Love Will Find A Way
by AniuLonewolf
Summary: InuKag.. 'She couldn't do anything to help Kagome get Inuyasha back. All she could do was watch and hope that Kagome wouldn't do anything rash for it seemed that it would only be a small amount of time before Kagome would lose her mind.'
1. Beginning

I DON'T OWN INUYASHA! BUT THIS STORY IS MINE! I DON'T OWN LION KING (which is story kinda seems like -but don't leave, i changed a lot of it so it's not all the same) BUT THIS STORY IS MINE!

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 1: Beginning

o-o

It was a sunny and joyous day in the lands of Feudal Japan. The West and the Eastern lands were celebrating two new additions to their kingdoms. A sign of promise and life spread through the lands as the kingdoms celebrated the birth of the heirs of the land.

And what luck! A baby boy and a baby girl.

It was planned that when the two where grown up, they were to marry each other and the West and the East would to be ruled by one lord and his lady. Everyone in both kingdoms had such high hopes for the two little babies and their futures. These were happy times.

But suddenly the happy times shattered and something terrible happened.

Shortly after the two babies were born, a battle in a nearby land broke out and the East and the West came together to plan aid for their allies, who were caught in the battle and also to defend their own lands. But an argument sparked which led to misimformation and the late lord of the East was attacked and killed. When the late lord of the East passed away, he left his son, the baby girl's father, in the rule of the lands. Another argument sparked and grew to the point that the two lands weren't at peace anymore. Not to the point of war between the lands but that they were not friends anymore, staying in their own lands.

Five long years later and the lands were still fighting. The two heirs of the lands had grown up but since the lands were butting heads, the two never even met each other like in the original plan of peaceful times. Things were not going as they were onces planned and if things kept going the way they were, the two heirs would never meet and fall in love.

This is when our story takes place.

That one fateful day when Prince Inuyasha and Princess Kagome met.

This is a story that tells of how love always finds a way.

o-o-o-o

It was a sunny and promising morning as a little, excited girl ran through the halls to her parents' room. Her little feet stomped against the hard wood floor as she raced to the closed doors at the end of the hallways. Sliding open the rice paper door, she giggled as she snook over to where her parents slept. When she got over to their bed, she stopped the quiet act and yelled 'Wake up!'

She watched, her silver eyes gleaming with joy as she watched her parents jump at least a foot in the air with surprise at her outburst. With her parents finally awake, she let out a little giggle and ran to the side of the bed where her mother was. "You look funny Mommy." She giggled as she grabbed onto her mother's hand and jumped up and down.

Even though her long black hair wasn't combed but tangled with bedhead, the lady of the Eastern lands was still beautiful. Lady Yuki, the little girl's mother, kept calm and collected as she got out of bed and followed her daughter over to the one bench by the window. She sat her daughter down and kneeled in front of her. "Kagome, why did you do that?" She asked as she ran her fingers through the girl's hair.

"You missed the sun rise." The little raven haired girl said. "You promised you would watch it with me." She pouted like the little five year old that she was.

She heard her mother sigh but her eyes turned to see her father get out of bed. He didn't look too happy to be woken up so early so she turned back to her mother. Her mother, Lady Yuki, has a very pretty woman who had long black hair that reached the small of her back and she had black dog ears that rested on top her head. Silver eyes glimmered, the same colour as her daughters as Yuki looked down at the little girl in front of her.

Her father, Lord Akio, was a very tall man who also had long black hair that he always kept up in a long ponytail. He had silver eyes like his wife and daughter and had a silver stripe on each cheek. But unlike his wife and daughter he didn't have black dog ears, he had more human like ears but pointed.

The three walked out into the great hall to have breakfast. After eating breakfast, the girl's father met up with the generals of the Eastern army like he did every morning. The little girl's eyes lingered on the door where her father had left and let out a sigh, he never wanted to spend any time with her. The princess's thoughts were cut short when her mother took her hand and the two walked outside into the garden to water the plants.

"Mommy? Why does Daddy and and the other place have to fight?" Little princess Kagome asked. She would ask the same question everyday as she looked out from the garden at the other kingdom, not even a half an hour's walk from her own home.

"Well sweety, Daddy and the other man, Lord Taisho fight because ever since Grandfather died, they didn't agree on what should have been done in the war I told you about." Her mother explained, watering the lillies. Even though the servants and maids watered the plants all the time, Lady Yuki loved to take Kagome out to teach her how to take care of the flowers and show her love and respect for nature.

She remembered, as much as a five years old's memory could hold, how her mother had told her about the war that had taken place when she had born. "I don't understand." Kagome said, watching a butterfly float in the light breeze. Of course she didn't understand, she was only a child.

"You will when you're older." Lady Yuki said, patting her daughter on the head.

o-o-o-o

The days rolled on, years passing and soon the little princess turned seven years old. It was a bright sunny day when it happened. Kagome's parents decided it was a nice enough day to go for a walk outside the castle walls. The little princess was excited; she hardly ever got to go out into the big field between her land and the western lands.

With her parents walking slowly behind her, engaged in quiet talking to one another, the little princess skipped on ahead. Everything was so new to her; the field outside her window was always changing. She had watched from her window as the grass would grow tall and green in the summer and then die off in brown shades in the fall and then get covered in a blanket of snow in the winter. As she skipped through the new spring grass, the breeze around her felt so fresh with the awakening from winter.

"Kagome don't get too far ahead of us." Her father called out to her. "Stay where I can see you."

"Don't worry so much, Akio." Lady Yuki said while walking beside the Lord of the East. She turned to look up at her husband with a kind smile, intertwining their fingers at their sides.

"Well I just don't want her to get hurt." He said, watching her run off. In a father's mind, every little thing could pose a threat to his little daughter. And with the Western Lands not that far away from them, something could happen at any moment.

"She'll be fine." His wife said, squeezing her husband's hand gently as they continued their slow pace towards where their little daughter had run off to.

o-o-o-o

Her silver eyes sparkled in the sunlight from above as she looked around. Princess Kagome laughed as she ran through the grass of the valley. She jumped over rocks and in a small creek that ran through the valley and she even found a little bunny to play with for a while until he ran away.

She was walking through the grass when she saw a little butterfly land on a rock. Seeing the bright black and orange of the winged creature, she wanted to pet it. She watched, her silver eyes sparkling as she studied it for a moment, how it slowly flapped its wings to cool off in the hot sun. She ducked down into the grass and never let her eyes wander from the insect. She slowly walked up to it, not wanting to make a noise and when she got close enough she jumped, her hands out and ready to catch it.

Her hands clamped down on the rock. Opening her closed hands, she sighed as she found out that she didn't catch the pretty bug. The insect had seen her jump at it and it had flapped away. She looked up to try and see the butterfly but when she looked up, her jaw dropped at what she saw before her.

The Western lands. She had gone too far.

She could see the main house that over looked the valley just as her parent's house had over looked the valley. The princess stood up on the rock and looked around her. Looking back, she saw her home and it was too far away, not being able to spot her parents. She stood there for a while, too amazed by the other land that her parents told her to stay away from. She was too busy looking around that she never saw the figure approaching her until it was too late.

"You're it!" The voice said as he hit her in the shoulder.

The raven haired princess screamed in shock and jumped around. It was a little boy, around the same age as her. She took a moment to study the boy in front of her. He had long white hair that blew in the wind and two little white dog ears that sat on the top of his head; golden eyes that shown with innocence.

"You're it." He said again, thinking that she didn't hear him.

Kagome blinked and took a step back. "Who are you?" She questioned as she looked back between the Western lands and her own home but she kept her eyes on the boy in front of her. Her heart started to pound for her father had always told her not to talk to stangers.

"I'm Inuyasha." He said in a proud voice, as much for a bragging little seven year old. "I'm from that place over there." The white haired boy said in a youg voice. He pointed over to the feudal castle behind Kagome's shoulder. The little princess followed his point and gasped.

"You're from the Western lands?" She said.

"Yeah. Aren't you?" He asked with a tilt of the head in innocence and confusion.

"No, I'm from over there." She said, pointing to the Eastern lands. She watched the boy follow her piont and then he turned back around to her. "I'm Kagome." She smiled.

"Wanna be friends?" He asked with a big toothy grin. "So do you want to play tag?" He asked as he looked around the valley for a moment.

Kagome thought for a minute. She thought about the little boy her age in front of her. So what if he was from the Western lands? Even though her father had always told her that people from that land weren't friends, the boy in front of her seemed nice enough. She looked into his eyes and suddenly felt like she couldn't tear her gaze away from his eyes. She had never seen someone with such gold eyes before in all her seven years of living. "Sure." She smiled.

At the princess's positive answer, the little boy smiled back as the wind blew around them. They played a made up game with each other; combinations of hide and seek and tag. Kagome looked around to try and find new places to hide, trying not to get caught by her new friend. But her little giggles always seemed to lead Inuyasha right to her.

The two little children lost track of time in their fun and laughter but suddenly the laughter stopped and the fun was shattered. That was when their parents suddenly showed up.

"Kagome!" She heard her father's voice boom from a few yards away. He quickly ran up to her, his face angry. "What are you doing with _him_?" His silver eyes were grey in anger as he growled at the little silver haired boy.

Kagome looked up at her dad, her ears flattening down to her skull in fear. But when she turned to see Inuyasha, there was a very tall white haired man standing over Inuyasha with the same angered look as her father. It had happened to fast that she didn't know what was going on. One moment she was giggling with the boy she had just met and the next moment her parents had shown up and her father was upset. "Daddy I-"

"What do you mean by that Akio?" The other tall man said. At the sound of his voice, Kagome looked up at him and suddenly couldn't tear her eyes away. He was so tall, just like her father. He had long white hair pulled back into a long ponytail and he had golden eyes just like Inuyasha only he had a blue stripe down each of his cheeks. "Your daughter was on _our_ lands."

Princess Kagome looked down at the boy who was hiding behind his mother's kimono. She could see that he was just as scared as she was for Inuyasha's ears were also pinned down as he looked up at his mother. She had long white hair and golden eyes that shown like the sun. White dog ears rested on top her head like Inuyasha's and she was dressed in a midnight blue kimono that was etched with pink and red flowered decorated on it.

"I have no time for this. Come Kagome!" Lord Akio glared at the man in front of them and with that he turned around and walked back towards the East.

Kagome couldn't move as she looked at the three white haired and golden eyes people in front of her. But she was suddenly torn from her stupor as her mother bent down and picked her up in her arms and followed after Akio. Kagome turned around in her mother's arms and saw that Inuyasha's mother was doing the same and the two families parted ways.

And as the two families from the East and the West parted their ways, the two seven year olds said quiet goodbyes to each other. Little did they know and little did their families or anyone else know but the two; Princess Kagome and Prince Inuyasha would meet again soon.


	2. Talking

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 2: Talking

o-o

As he held his mother's hand, Inuyasha couldn't help but think about the nice girl he had just met. Princess Kagome from the Eastern Kingdom. A tiny smile formed on his face as he thought about how nice she was and how much fun it was to play with her but his smile faded as he looked up at his mother. He may have liked to play with Kagome but it seems like his mother and father weren't too happy about it.

Her golden eyes shawn with thought as Lady Izayoi accounted the events that had just unfolded. Prince Inuyasha of the West and Princess Kagome of the East had just met. Despite all the efforts her husband and the Eastern Lord had set in place to keep their childern apart it seemed as though fate got in the way. But she couldn't help wondering if it was really a bad thing or really a blessing.

She sat her little son on the edge of the porch that looked over the garden on the edge of the valley. He sat there quietly dangling his feet over the edge and running his clawed finger through the cracks of the wood floor. She sat down beside him, her long layers of kimono flowing around her as she looked down at her son. She ran her slender fingers through her son's long hair, the same colour as her's and Inuyasha looked up at her, his golden eyes matching her own.

Her eyes showed kindness and understanding as she looked down at the boy. "Inuyasha, why were you playing with that girl?" She said quietly as she saw the young prince's eyes meet the floor again. She never liked the fact that the two lands were split apart and she knew that Lady Yuki felt the same. But both of the mother's knew that their husbands' minds weren't easily changed.

With his eyes still drawn to the floor, Inuyasha mummbled his answer but with Izayoi's keen hearing she didn't miss a word. "She seemed really nice Mother. I like her." He looked up at her for a moment and then back to the ground. "I didn't mean to make you and Father mad."

Izayoi watched as her son flattened his snow white ears against his skull as he was sad that he had disobeyed his parents. A kind smile appeared on her lips as she raised a hand and placed it on his head, softly petting his ears. "I'm not mad at you honey." She said as she used to other hand to lift her son's chin up to make him look at her. "But I think you father is though."

The boy slumbed down as if to hide away from the subject of his father. "Do I have to go say sorry?" He asked as his big golden eyes looked up at his mother. He wished that he didn't have to go see his father, not right now. He knew that if his father was upset to stay away from him for a while and then see him, that or have his mother with him. He was scared of his father.

"Yes, you do." His mother answered and he gave a sigh in defeat. With that, Lady Izayoi got up to her feet and led her son back inside to find where Lord Taisho had gone to.

They found Inuyasha's father in a conversation with one of the generals in the Western army. They stopped outside the room and waited when he was finished. When the lord was done talking to the general, he turned to find his son waiting and Izayoi gave him a little push to walk up to his father. Taisho kneeled down in front of his son but before he said anything he looked up at his wife. Both sets of golden eyes locked as husband and wife looked at each other before Izayoi turned and left the room allowing the two to have a father-son talk.

No, he didn't want his mother to leave the room. He wanted her to stay there and keep his father's temper in check. But not this time - this time it was just he and his father. He wanted to keep his eyes down on the floor for he didn't want to meet this father's angry look. But he had no choice. "Daddy I'm sorry I played with that girl. I didn't know she was bad." Inuyasha said as he continued to look down at the ground.

Where Izayoi's nature was understanding and patient, Taisho was the complete different. He was angered quickly and didn't want to waste time talking out the details. He gritted his teeth but continued to stay calm, he was talking to his son after all. He loved his son but it didn't take away from the fact that the two children had met. "What were you doing with her?" He asked in a fatherly tone as he continued to kneel in front of his son.

But Inuyasha didn't have an answer to his father's question. He didn't think he needed a reason as to why he was playing with the girl - he just wanted to make a new friend and wanted to play a game. But apparently that was a problem for his father. "I thought that..." But he cut himself off not able to come up with an answer.

Taisho gave a growl and saw hiw son flinch. "You thought what?" He questioned as he stood up on his feet, towering over his son. "You thought that you could be friends with that little girl.. the little princess from the East." He spat the words as if they tasted horrible in his mouth. "To be friends with Akio's daughter..." But he suddenly stopped in mid sentence as he began to think of a plan.

He didn't see the look in his father's eye. The look of a plan beginning to develop in Taisho's mind as a smirk appeared on his face. But when he heard his father chuckle he saw that his father was smiling down at him.

"What an idea my brilliant boy." His father suddenly stated, his tone changing from scolding to proud. He kneeled down in front of Inuyasha again and gave him a noogie on the head. "You get close to Akio's daughter and then you could earn his trust and attack from the inside." He planned, standing up and looking out the window that faced the valley. "Let's see how Akio likes this." He said to himself as he ran over some more of the details in his mind.

Poor little Inuyasha continued to stand there but this time he looked up at his father with a mixture of a shocked and confused expression on his face. What just happened? Wasn't his father mad at him? But now he was suddenly proud of him for coming up with somesort of plan? No, all he wanted to do was make a new friend in the little girl he met in the valley - why did something so simple and innocent cause so much trouble?

But his father was happy with him right? Wasn't that the good thing in this entire event? He looked up at his father to see a smile greet him and he tried to smile back. "I'm very proud of you Inuyasha, thinking up such a great plan." The white haired demon lord said, patting his son on the head. "We will start your training tomorrow."

Lady Izayoi was listening for outside the rice paper doors and when she heard what her husband said, her ears flattened in sadness and she let out a long, sad sigh. Her husband's plan wouldn't bring any good to the lands, only more pain. She wanted to do something to stop her husband but she knew full well that nothing she would do would stop what was about to happen.

o-o-o-o

Meanwhile in the Eastern lands, the little princess of the East was getting a talking from her father just as Inuyasha did. The daughter and father were alone in Lord Akio's study as the black haired lord tried to get his point across without being so mean to his little daughter. Lord Akio kneeled down in front of his daughter. "Kagome I'm very disappointed into you." He said as he looked at his daughter.

"I'm sorry Daddy. I just thought that he was nice to play with." Kagome said, her voice hiccuping with each little sob. She wipped away her tears with fisted hands, her eyes turning pink with all her tears.

But Akio's eyes were kind and he just wanted to use this event as a learning lesson. Hopefully it wouldn't happen again for he surely didn't want to deal with the Western lands anymore. "Do you know who he was?" He asked and he watched his daughter shake her head no. "He is the son of the Western lord." He explained.

Kagome went through what was going on in her little seven year old mind; well she knew that Inuyasha was really nice and fun to play with but for some reason her father didn't like that. But then she found out that he was the prince of the other place, but on the other hand she still didn't know why her father was so upset about her making a new friend. "I don't understand." The seven year old looked up at her father.

Lord Akio's eyes softened a little more as he placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead and stood up to his feet. "You will when you're older but as of now I'm going to have to get someone to watch over you every time you go wondering around the lands." He took her little hand in his and together they walked out to meet Lady Yuki.

"Yes Father." Kagome said sadly as she walked out of the study with her father.


	3. Plan

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 3: Plan

o-o

The sun rose and fell in the sky, day in and day out. The silver moon went through its phases as the years passed. Ten to be correct. It had been ten long years later, when the princess and the prince of the East and the West had celebrated their seventeenth birthdays. And as part of the Eastern celebration, Lord Akio finally allowed Princess Kagome the privilage to venture out into the valley without an escort.

Ever since that one day when the two children had met Lord Akio had made strict orders that the princess could not leave the walls without someone with her. But finally after ten years of Lady Yuki trying to talk him out of the order he finally lifted it and allowed Kagome some freedom.

It was the day Kagome was waiting for forever. Ever since the day she met that boy, her father appointed an escort to walk with her through the trails near their land. Her escort was a chubby raccoon-dog demon that served her father. But all he wanted to do was talk about how him and his friends would go out and party. And he never wanted to really go for walks, just to go the edge of the castle walls and wanted to turn back. For ten years she had to put with Hatchi's laziness. All she wanted to do was explore through the valley.

And today was finally that day. Getting dressed in a simple short kimono, she stepped out into the bright and warm summery day.

Kagome gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and then turned to her father. "Daddy, you have to let me do this on my own. Promise?" He had always been protective but ever since she met Inuyasha he had stepped up on the fatherly guard. "Promise you won't send someone after me?"

Lord Akio thought about it for a minute. They hadn't heard from the West since that day in the valley and everyone in his kingdom had almost forgotten about the West but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was being planned. He looked down at his daughter who had grown so much and he suddenly felt a wave of calm and proudness as he looking into his daughter's eyes. "Ok I promise."

Kagome's face lit up with joy and she hugged her father. "Thank you so much Daddy, I won't let you down." She giggled and skipped off to the ledge that dropped into the valley. Before leaping off the ledge she looked back at her parents, not able to hide her joy and excitement.

It was so good to be on her own! Not having to follow a lazy raccoon-dog around or listen to his drunken tales. She didn't have to follow the trail that led around the castle. She could go anywhere she wanted. She felt so free!

She skipped the old creek she found when she was younger. She stopped at the edge of the creek to see little fish swimming around in their own little word. She saw snails and lizards along their travels near the water. A noise over her shoulder turned her attention to find a heard of deer grazing in the grass.

Smiling, she decided to head off to a part of the valley the trails never touched. She quietly walked by the deer, some of them moving in their shyness out of her way. She walked by the herd, heading to the edge of the forest, to see what hid in the tree shadows.

o-o-o-o

Meanwhile in the Western Lands, Lord Taisho walked down the one hallway towards the porch that overlooked the valley. He stopped on the dirt path and glared with deep golden eyes at the Eastern lands which lay just over the valley in front of him. He let out a small growl which was met by a light chuckle from someone behind him.

Lord Taisho turned around to see a figure standing almost as tall as him, long white hair flowed down his back, golden eyes of the same tint met his own eyes and white furred ears twitched atop of his head. When he saw who it was that stood behind him, Taisho's face showed that of a cross between a smile and a smirk. He walked up to his now grown up son and looked him up and down. "Today is the perfect day to put our plan into action."

The figure who was standing in front of him was noneother that Prince Inuyasha of the Western lands. He had grown so much in the last ten years and he was almost as tall as his father. His long white hair flowed down his back and almost reached the small of his back as his golden eyes glowed with determination - the innocence of a child gone. He also had the family's sword, the Tetsusiaga strapped to his side as his hands flexed as a habit, the bones in his knuckles cracking.

"The time to strike is now." His father announced as he looked over his shoulder to the soldiers who were standing there waiting for his signal. He turned back to his son and looked him right in the eye. "You know what to do?"

"Yes." Inuyasha answered as he crackled his knuckles again, his sharp demon claws glimmering in the sunlight.

Lord Taisho turned to two of his warriors and gave them the cue to run into the valley. They did so, carrying torches that were lit with fire. The two found a dry patch of grass in the middle of the valley where the West and East met. The chuckled evily and dropped their torches. The fire spread quickly and with their luck, the wind was from the west, blowing the fire to spread towards the east. The plan was going just as Lord Taisho had planned, the winds were perfect.

Father and son watched from the edge of their lands as the fire ate up the dry grass in the valley and made its way to the Eastern lands. The fire grew in the dryness of the air as the fire's reflection made their golden eyes deadly. When the fire had grown big enough, Lord Taisho sent Inuyasha out.

Watching from her garden, Lady Izayoi left out another sad sigh as she watched her son leap out into the valley. The scent of smoke caught her nose and turned her gaze over to the valley and saw that the fire was growing fast, eating up all the dry grass since there wasn't much rain recently.

"What were you thinking Taisho? This is only going to make things worse." She whispered to herself, a single tear running down her cheek as she wished to herself for the hundredth time that her husband's plan wouldn't work. If only the gods would answer her prayers.

o-o-o-o

After exploring the dark forest at the edge of the valley, Kagome was going to make her way to another river that ran by the valley. She wanted to explore the water, see if there were any animals that lived around the water. She was glowing in her freedom, humming to herself without having to worry about anyone hearing her. She was by herself, all by herself and she could go wherever her feet took her.

She was looking around in the sky, seeing the birds flutter in their journey to getting food for their waiting young. She watched as a young fawn followed his mother around, learning to graze the grass hear his feet. She was humming a lullaby to herself, soaking up the warm sun when her nose suddenly caught the scent of smoke. Looking up, her silver eyes wided and she gasped as the herd of deer and other little animals ran past her in a hurry. She looked past the animals and saw what they were running from; she then saw the huge tongues of fire heading her way.

"Oh no! This can't be good." She yelled to herself as she took into a run in the direction she saw the castle. She had to get home.

o-o-o-o

Meanwhile, Lady Yuki was spending the day in the warm sun, reading one of her favourite books while Lord Akio was pacing the garden. There were no scheduled meetings with his troops today and it seemed too stuffy in the castle. And though he wouldn't admit it to his wife, he was worried about his daughter out in the valley by herself.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine." She said and turned the page and trying to concentrate on the words rather than her husband. "There's nothing to worry about."

Lord Akio just grunted at his wife and continued to pace. He was about to say something to his wife when he turned around and something caught his eye. Smoke and fire. And lots of it. He could also see some of the local animals running away from the path of the fire. "No. NO!" He roared and ran back inside the castle. "Get troops together! Find Kagome! " He yelled through the halls.

Lady Yuki jumped up at her husband's roar to watch him run into the castle. Looking around her, she then spotted the fire raging out in the dry grass and ran inside to follow the black haired demon lord. Now there was something to worry about - Kagome may not be as fine as she thought.

o-o-o-o

All around her was red. The fire had caught up with her and the trees around her burned as the fire ate them up. She tried to dart around them and get away but the fire had spread so fast that she was caught in it. The tongues of fire licked its way around on the dry grass and the fallen logs all around as she tried to make her way out of danger.

Her heart pounded in her chest in fear, her breaths came out in short spurts. She tried to look all around and tried to make her way somewhere away from the danger. Her body screamed in protest for her muscles were getting sore from lack of oxygen but her brain told her not to stop, she had to get out of the fire. She looked around as she tried to find her way back home.

The heat was so intense and she felt her lungs burn inside her chest from the effects of breathing in the black heavy smoke. Her home rested on a rock ledge that she had to climb in order to get home and away from the fire. Hoping up the smaller rocks, her legs burned with no oxygen. Her head was getting faint from the smoke around her and the rocks continued to get larger as she worked up the hill. Pulling herself up one of the larger rock faces, she saw that no fire had spread so close to her house and allowed herself to stop for a moment.

Her breathing was too fast and too shallow to grab any oxygen. Her lungs burned from the hot air and every time she tried to pull in a deeper breath, it sent her into a coughing fit to try and rid her respiratory tract from the smoke in her lungs. She wasn't getting enough oxygen for her body to work and she suddenly felt lightheaded. With the urgency still in the forefront of her mind, she tried to get up but the strain made her suddenly collapse to the ground unconscious.


	4. Safe

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 4: Safe

o-o

She was safe up on the high ledge for the fire had not made its way up there to the rocks yet. But it was only a matter of time. In the smoke, a figure loomed over the tired, fainted princess. His golden eyes glowed in the light of the fire, his sharp demon fangs glimmered in a snarl. It was Inuyasha. He knelt down beside the princess and looked her over.

She had changed a lot since he had first met her that one day in the meadow, all those years ago. She was dressed in a short blue kimono that had pink lotus flowers decorated in a pattern and her long black hair now reached the middle of her back.

He reached a clawed hand out and traced her cheek for a moment, admiring her beauty. Looking around, he saw no one else was around but he didn't have time to linger around for the fire was continuing to spread. He reached out and picked her up, and managed to get her on his back. With her arms loosly around his neck and his hands under her legs, he started to run.

Trees burned all around them as he ran through the once green forest. The air was thick with smoke and his lungs burned with each breath but he knew he had to get away from the fire. A tree, caught in the grips of the fire fell to the ground in front of him, causing the silver haired boy to stop for a moment and think of another path. He found a way that didn't look like it was caught in the fire just yet so he decided to go that way. He put another burst of speed into his run but what he didn't take into account was that there was a cliff just up ahead.

When he saw that the ground ended at the almost sheer drop-off, he tried to skid to a stop but he was going too fast and he and the still unconscious Kagome tumbled down the cliff and landed in a valley that hadden't fallen to the fire yet but the threat was close by. While he had fallen down the cliff he had lost his grip on Kagome and she had fallen a couple metres away from him. The two tummbled down the cliff and landed with a thund on the ground below. Inuyasha had gotten hit in the head by a rock and his vision when spinning for a moment until he managed to gain control of his senses again.

Looking around he saw that the fire had now spread down the rocks and was coming closer to them. Even though his body still screamed to rest he knew that the fire would soon catch up with them so he had to move. With a struggle, he picked himself onto his feet and picked up Kagome and carried her through the grass to where there was another branch of the stream where the fire wouldn't be able to cross. He waded through the water to the other side and he laid her down on the ground and sat down beside her, his body exhausted.

He sat there, his arms haning over his bent knees, his head down as he tried to catch his breathing. His silver hair was wet and stuck to the back of his red haori. With every deep breath he tried to get his chest burned in pain and his lungs tried to recover. As he struggled with his own breathing, he never let his eyes wander from the princess, making sure she was still breathing.

He looked down at her and studied her for what seemed like a minute until he saw her chest rise and fall. He let out a sigh of relief, she was still breathing. He looked over at the valley across the river and watched the grass die under the destructive force of the fire. Suddenly his one silver ear twitched around as it caught the quiet moan of Kagome starting to wake up.

The first thing that her body registered what that she was in pain. The pain from falling, tummbling down the cliff. Her lungs were still burning from the smoke and she has a splitting headache. Kagome opened her eyes and tried to focus on the person that was sitting beside her. "Where am I?" She asked but then started to cough as her lungs tried to get the smoke out of her body.

"Don't worry," the stranger said in a tired, raspy voice, "you're safe now." Was all Inuyasha said as he got up to his feet for a moment.

Kagome pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked up at her rescuer. She quickly studied his face, tilting her head to the side, trying to remember where she had seen him before. His long silver hair, matching coloured dog ears, his piercing golden eyes.

He just stood there for a moment and watched as the princess on the ground looked up at him. Inuyasha looked down at her, locking his eyes with hers as she studied his apperance. He couldn't help but smirk at her, she looked so funny as she just sat there with a questioning look on her face.

That long silver hair, those silver furred ears, those intense gold eyes - that smirk. It suddenly dawned on her who this stranger really was. "Inuyasha? I-Is that you?" She said, surprised at herself for actually remembering his name. That was such a long time ago.

Ah, so she finally figured it out. His smirk grew bigger at her surprised expression on her face. "The one and only."

That had been such a long time ago - when they first met in the valley. She tried to stand up but her legs were still weak and she couldn't support herself. She was about to fall down on the ground when someone wrapped his arms around her waist. She looked up and saw that Inuyasha moved with such speed and caught her. As a reaction she placed her hands on his chest while he placed one hand on her shoulder and the other behind her back to support her up.

"T-Thank you." Kagome whispered as she couldn't help but blush at the sudden closeness. "I guess I'm still a little dizzy."Inuyasha was about to say something when his ear picked up the sound of footsteps getting closer. Both turned to see Lord Akio, Lady Yuki and a band of soldiers running up to them.

The first thing Lord Akio saw was this white haird boy, this Western Land stranger with his arms around his daughter. His body suddenly surged with anger as he saw that his daughter had her hands on this stranger's chest. Being a father and all he couldn't help but let out a very threatening snarl as he picked up his pace.

"Kagome!" He barked loudly, making both Inuyasha and Kagome physically jump apart from each other. He was about to say something when his wife suddenly ran ahead of him to their daughter.

"Kagome!" Her mother yelled, running over to her and giving her a big hug. When she pulled away she seemed to suddenly realize the boy standing beside them. "Bless you for saving my daughter."

Inuyasha was about to say something to the Eastern Lady when the angry Lord marched up him and he took a couple steps back in submission.

Akio walked up to the white haired boy. "What the hell do you think you're doing with my daughter?" He roared.

"Daddy, Inuyasha saved me." Kagome interrupted, still in her mother's warm arms.

"Inuyasha?" Her mother and father both said at the same time, looking over at the boy in question.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lord Akio growled again.

"I ask with the greatest honor to you would allow me to travel through your lands. " Inuyasha asked, bowing down in respect.

"NO!" The black haired lord snarled, sending Inuyasha stepping back a bit. "You're with the Western lands and your father."

"No I'm not. Not anymore. I left the Western lands a long time ago." Inuyasha said, his golden eyes blaring in the blazing fire behind him. "I wish to live away from here but in order to do that, I need to ask passage through your lands."

Lord Akio snarled again, not believing what the boy said. He paced around, thinking it through. After a few paces, he stopped in front of Inuyasha and growled. "I don't approve of this." He glared into Inuyasha's golden eyes, trying to find something that would prove that Inuyasha was lying. But he couldn't find anything.

"Where are you going to live now?" Lady Yuki questioned, still holding on to her daughter. The fire raged behind them but unable to cross the river.

"I don't know yet. My father and I had a disagreement about how to rule the kingdom to I left. I'm a rogue to the lands now, trying to find a place to seek shelter." Inuyasha turned his eyes from the Lady of the East to the Princess. "I was on my way to ask your permission to cross your lands when I saw your daughter running from the fire. She looked like she was in danger."

"You saved our daughter. We cannot thank you enough." Lady Yuki pulled away from Kagome and turned to face the silver haired man. "I think it would be proper, since you don't have a place to stay at the moment, that we provided you with shelter for as long as you needed."

"What?" Lord Akio roared, his hands clenched at his side. "You are serious Yuki? Let this Western prince in our land?"

"Lord Akio, compose yourself." Lady Yuki said in a stern voice. Of course, only the Lord's wife was able to calm him down in his fit of rage. "This man saved your daughter, you owe it to him."

The Eastern Lord growled loudly for a moment but then let out a big sigh and nodded. Looking at his wife, he saw that her silver eyes were glowing with determination to help this boy. Sighing again, he turned to Inuyasha with a silent growl. I still don't approve of this but my wife is right." He looked over at Kagome. "You saved my daughter, I'll give you that much."

Kagome held her breath. What was going to happen? Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest but then a second thought asked herself why she was feeling this way. Inuyasha was still a stranger to her, someone who she barely knew and yet she had felt this connection with him, something that she couldn't explain but she didn't want her father to throw Inuyasha away right off the bat. She wanted her father to give him a chance.

There was a long pause before Lord Akio straightened up to give his announcement. "I guess you can stay - for now. But I'm keeping my eye on you." Lord Akio warned, gazing back at Inuyasha. Saying no more, he and Lady Yuki headed back to the castle, followed by Inuyasha and Kagome.

The soldiers went out to put out the fire as Kagome turned away from the river to follow her parents. The headache she had before when she woke up was twice as bad now; it felt like her head was going to explode. Placing a hand on her forehead, she tried to will the pain away but it wouldn't listen. Her world was spinning, unable to concentrate on the footfalls ahead of her; she suddenly tripped over a large fallen tree.

Arms reached out to catch the princess before she hit the ground. While her world was spinning, she looked up to see that it was Inuyasha again that caught her. "Seems you're always there to catch me." She weakly laughed as she pulled herself up and continued walking, Inuyasha falling into step beside her as they headed to the Eastern Kingdom.


	5. Training

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 5: Training

o-o

When they got back to the castle, it was already nightfall and everyone began to head for bed. The soldiers were dismissed by Akio after the fires in the valley were put out and they all headed home to their wife and kids while Lady Yuki gave her daughter a motherly hug before heading inside. Inuyasha was about to follow inside when Akio suddenly appeared in front of him with an angry snarl and pointed to a nearby maple tree with a thick trunk.

Inuyasha's golden orbs locked with Akio's silver eyes. It seemed as if Inuyasha's golden eyes were more bright in the sunlight while Akio's and his family's where more bright in the moonlight. Inuyasha got the idea of what the Eastern lord wanted and turned away from the castle and into the garden to were the tree was.

Kagome saw this interaction between her father and Inuyasha and she let out a sad sigh. Why must her father be so controlling? She just didn't understand. Before she went inside, she walked over to where Inuyasha was resting his back against the truck of the tree.

"Uh, thanks for saving me today." She said as she slowly walked up to the silver haired boy and she couldn't help but notice that his long hair seemed to shine in the silver moonlight.

"Looks like you can't go out into the valley at all without getting into trouble, Princess." Inuyasha said a bit bitterly. "Go out for a few hours by yourself and you set the valley on fire. You could have gotten killed out there." He got up to his feet and stood in front of her, almost a head and a half taller than the princess.

Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. Who did this guy think he was? She barely knew this guy and he had the nerve to say something like that to her. "What?" Yes he saved her life but here he is, talking to her like he was the best at everything.

Inuyasha continued to look down at the princess before him, her silver eyes glistening before him. "Sorry to say, but you're just nothing but trouble." He huffed, folding his arms in front of his chest. "I bet you couldn't even stand up in a fight."

"Oh, and you could do better?" She shot back as she glared at him.

Inuyasha laughed. "Yeah."

Their little argument was interrupted while Kagome's father appeared at the doors of the palace. "Kagome!" Lord Akio called from the porch as he looked for his daughter, not able to see his daughter with the stranger in the shade of the maple tree.

"Coming." The princess answered back then turned to Inuyasha again, her eyes still glaring but this time she had a smile on her lips. "Fine then, you jerk. Show me how good you say you are tomorrow morning." She said as she turned her back to him while making her way to her palace.

"Sounds like a date." Inuyasha smirked as he watched the princess turn to the castle. When she was gone, he jumped up into the branches of the tree to get some sleep. It wasn't a nice as a bed would be but he made the best out of it.

Kagome stopped a couple steps away from the door and she looked over her shoulder. "Goodnight." She whispered and turned to open the door where her impatient father was waiting, unable to hear Inuyasha reply back, wishing her sweet dreams.

o-o-o-o

The next day, Inuyasha woke up to the sunlight streaming through to his face. Stretching his arms over his head he began to stretch the rest of his body, wanting to roll over to the other side of the bed. The only problem was that he wasn't in a bed at all and ran out of room on the thick branch and fell out of the tree onto the hard ground below. Getting up he rubbed his head as he looked up at the 'bed' that he slept in last night.

_'Oh right, I forgot. I'm in the Eastern lands now.'_ He thought to himself as he got up to his feet as he let out a groan. _'And I have training with little miss princess.'_ He remembered as he made his way through the garden.

He made his way through the palace gates, ignoring the glares that the soldiers shot at him as he made his way through the valley. He found a rock that overlooked a good portion of the valley and figured it would be easy a good place to wait. He watched a little blue bird flutter by, a bunny nibble on some clovers and a chipmunk hunt around for some seeds. _'Sheesh this princess must like to be fashionably late or something.'_ Inuyasha thought to himself.

He leaned back on the palms of his hands and watched the clouds roll by until one of his white dog ears flicked back, following the sound. It was getting closer and closer until..

Inuyasha ducked his head, spinning around and he caught the person's hand. It was Kagome who had tried a very non surprising sneak attack.

"Hey, you're no fun." Kagome yelled as she yanked her hand out of Inuyasha's grasp.

"What?"

Kagome dusted herself off and looked back at the dog demon boy in front of her. "I said that you are no fun. I was trying to start a game of tag." She said, trying to look tough - she couldn't really pull it off as Inuyasha pointed out with a quiet laugh to himself.

"Whatever." Shaking his head, Inuyasha got up from his sitting position. "Come on, we have training to do." He said as he walked past the princess who rushed to keep up with him.

o-o-o-o

Training began as soon as Inuyasha found a good enough spot for his first lesson. After explaining the excersize to the princess, Inuyasha looked up at the sky and sighed. _'This is going to be a long day.'_ The Western prince thought to himself as he got ready for Kagome's lesson. The silver haired prince took a seat on the ground, laying on his stomach and found a ladybug to play with while Kagome was practicing.

First Lesson: How to sneak up on someone.

The black haired princess was in the grass trying to catch him off guard but so far it wasn't going to well. While she was trying to sneak up, key word: trying, she was hitting rocks, snapping twigs and even make a quail flutter away in fear. She wasn't doing so well.

'SNAP!' went a twig and Kagome whispered out an 'ouch'.

Inuyasha sighed as he could hear her the entire time. "3, 2, 1." He counted down with a roll of the eyes and ducked as Kagome jumped out of the grass at him. He knew full well when she was going to 'attack' but what he didn't count was that Kagome had landed on his back, sending them rolling down the hill.

All they could see was a blur of grass and sky blue as they rolled and rolled down the hill. They stopped at the bottom of the hill - Kagome ended up on the bottom and Inuyasha was laying on top of her. Their faces where inches apart. _'Wow, this was awkward.'_ Both of their minds thought as they looked into each other's eyes.

"Sorry." Kagome said, her cheeks started to redden at the sudden closeness of their faces. She was about to say something when she froze stiff.

Inuyasha couldn't look away from her. His hair fell over his shoulder, creating some kind of curtain over Kagome. He didn't even notice how they were positioned. All he focused on her were beautiful eyes. He slowly leaned down, getting close until he brushed his lips against hers.

Kagome's silver eyes widened. Inuyasha was kissing her! She tried to make her arms move but couldn't, it was like her brain went dead for a moment and she somehow caught herself on Cloud Nine. She melted into his lips and closed her eyes.

Inuyasha suddenly stopped after a moment as he parted from her and opened his eyes. He seemed to snap out of the sudden trace that he seemed to be under. He got up from on top of Kagome and cleared his throat and got up, helping Kagome up too.

"You-You're still breathing too hard. W-when you sneak up." He said, changing the subject completely as he suddenly couldn't look at Kagome. He suddenly had this guilty feeling in his stomach - or was it his heart.

Kagome, cheeks still a bit pink, nodded and they headed off into forest for more training. Her heart was still fluttering so hard that she was sure that Inuyasha could hear it but before she could say anything else she realized that Inuyasha had already started to walk back up the hill to the forest so she hurried up after him.

o-o-o-o

After a while of looking around in the forest, much to Kagome's protest for she didn't want to anger her father any more than he already was, Inuyasha found a clearing where a bear demon was searching the nearby trees for berries to eat. Inuyasha said that she needed to strengthen her fighting abilities. Kagome was hesitant at first but Inuyasha had reassured her that if things got too out of hand that he would take care of it.

Kagome nodded and went along with the plan and threw a rock at the demon. Of course she didn't have the best aim and ended up hitting the tree nearby. Hey, at least she hit something. The said bear turned around and barred his sharp pearly fangs at the princess, angry for the dog demoness disturbed his scavenging. The black haired demon thought on the spot and jumped into a nearby tree branch, calling the bear to her, trying to get it more angry.

"Hey you... you stupid bear." Kagome called, not really coming up with a good enough insult.

Inuyasha nodded watching her every move. She wasn't _that_ bad, at least she could climb trees pretty fast but the one thing he didn't like was that the bear was still roaring at her. His eyes widened as he saw the bear take a couple steps towards the princess. He saw what was coming, didn't like it and looked up at Kagome.

"Kagome get over here now!" He called as he kept his eyes on the bear who was still angry. "The demon is calling his friends. We have to get out of here. Now!"

Kagome was startled that Inuyasha suddenly called to her but she didn't question him and jumped down, landing beside Inuyasha. As she landed down beside him, she suddenly felt the earth tremble and as some kind of reflex, she grabbed onto Inuyasha's arm.

"Now what's the plan?" She asked as they now looked up at three angry bear demons, growling and snarling at them. Her heart started to flutter but this time not because of being close to Inuyasha but this time for the fear of what was going to happen next.

"RUN!" Inuyasha yelled as they took a run for the valley. He knew better than to challenge three giant bear demons.

As they ran, the bears took after them. They made their way out of the forest, as a reflex Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's hand and pulled her along. They darted around trees and tripped over roots until they got out of the forest but when Inuyasha looked around he saw that they three bears were still following them.

"W-What do we do?" Kagome asked as she jumped over a log.

"I don't know." The white dog eared guy replied. "Bears aren't the smartest, we have to try and get away to somewhere they won't be able to see us." His ear flicked around to the girl behind him as he heard her gasp. "What?"

"I have a place we can go." She cried as she pushed herself to catch up with Inuyasha. She laced her fingers between his as she led him down a path that she knew well from when she was a child. She led the prince down a valley that there was nothing but ferns and rock cliffs, the rock valley led to the other side of the western valley. Kagome suddenly made a sharp turn to the left, Inuyasha being dragged behind and the bears not that far behind.

Kagome had a trick up her sleeves and since she knew this area well she knew a certain hiding place. The roaring bears thundered by, unable to see where the two dog demons has gone to as the two had hidden themselves in a crack in the rock face. The bears ran right past them.

Hearts still pounding but when the coast was clear, Inuyasha started to laugh. Kagome looked up at him in the cramped space and she saw his golden eyes sparkle with laughter. "That was awesome!" He laughed as he looked down at the girl beside him. "Nothing like a nice jog to get the heart pounding strong."

Kagome couldn't help but laugh along lightly as she tried to catch her breath and slow down her heart before he beat out of her chest. "You're crazy. That's the last time I'm taunting a bear demon." Her statement only made Inuyasha laugh harder.

After Inuyasha had a good laugh and Kagome had caught her breath, the two decided to try and get out of the rockface crack. While trying to get out, Kagome's hand slipped and she landed back down on Inuyasha's chest, their faces inches apart, just like before.

Getting caught in the same trace, Inuyasha brushed his lips against hers in a short, sweet kiss. As he pulled back he smiled down at the princess before him and Kagome smiled back. Without anything else said, they made their way out of the grove and back to the valley.


	6. Passion

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 6: Passion

o-o

It had been a week since Inuyasha had come to stay in the Eastern lands. Well, not really stay exactly, considering that Lord Akio wouldn't let Inuyasha come anywhere close to the castle. The only place he was allowed to go inside the castle walls was the tree in the garden that Inuyasha had now called a home, for now.

It now was the beginning of August and that meant the rainy season was approaching. Inuyasha always hated the raining season because, well, it rained to damn much. Almost every day. And now he had a feeling he was going to hate the rainy season even more since he was now stuck living in a tree. He wasn't going to like the rain anymore than he already did.

Sighing, Inuyasha snapped a twig and twiddled it between his fingers to try and stop himself from dying of being bored. He was currently sitting up in the tree he called 'bed', watching as the castle maids washed the clothes in the nearby spring that ran close to the garden. There wasn't much for him to do while living in the Eastern lands.

The sound of talking got his attention and he turned his head to the voice. He recognized that soft, joyful voice anywhere and he knew that it was Princess Kagome. Turning his head to the sound of the princess's voice, he saw Kagome walking down the porch with her mother, talking about something as they walked into the garden.

"So he's come back has he?" Lady Yuki asked. Inuyasha suspected that they were already far into their conversation for he didn't catch who _'he'_ was.

"Yeah the stupid idiot has come back from the mountains to the north." Kagome said, walking beside her mother. Inuyasha then saw that Kagome had a very sour look on her face and her arms were crossed over her chest. "I hope he doesn't ask Daddy to stay here for awhile."

They stopped at a bush of wild flowers and started to water them. They both had buckets and went around the garden, watering every plant as they continued their conversation. It was like they didn't even notice that the Prince from the West was listening up in the maple tree.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he rolled out of the tree, landing on all fours. He stood up and dusted himself off, turning to Lady Yuki with a bow of respect and hello. "I don't mean to be intruding but may I ask why you are watering the plants when it's bound to rain tomorrow?" He asked, arching an eyebrow at Kagome. He looked up at the sky and could see the dark white-grey clouds already creeping over the sky.

Kagome looked up from the flowers as she saw Inuyasha approach. When he asked his question she stopped what she was doing and straightened up, her hands on her hips. She was about to say something when Lady Yuki beat her to it.

"We know that it's the rainy season but we love to water the plants." She said, showing Inuyasha by watering a nearby patch of daisies. "They love it too." She smiled.

"Riiight." Inuyasha murmured.

Lady Yuki turned to her daughter and smiled. "Don't you have another lesson in fighting today with Inuyasha?"

Kagome looked between her mother and Inuyasha, trying to come up with something to say. She had only known the guy for really only a week and she was starting to feel funny when being around him. Kinda like she was shy or something.

"She does have a lesson that she could learn today." Inuyasha began, looking at her straight in the eye. "But I thought that she could have a day off." He said, smirking. He then turned to Kagome's mother and bowed again. "Now if you two ladies excuse me, I have some business to take care of." And with that, he jumped away, over the castle walls and into the valley.

Kagome's mouth was open wide as she watched him jump off. She snapped back into reality and continued watering the plants, muttering things like 'show-off' and 'thick-headed jerk'. She stopped her watering when she heard her mother start to laugh.

"Aren't you going to go after him?" Lady Yuki asked. Kagome looked at her with 'huh?' written all over her face. "He used some kind of reverse psychology trick on you to make you go after him. I say, that was pretty smart." She chuckled.

Kagome growled and excused herself as she jumped over the wall in search of the dog boy. After watching her daughter jump over the wall, Lady Yuki started to laugh again as she continued to walk around the garden to water the rest of the plants.

"They'll fall in love in no time."

o-o-o-o

It wasn't long before Kagome found Inuyasha. The silver haired dog demon was laying on his stomach on a flat rock, playing in the steam below. She walked up to him, knowing all too well that he already knew she was there.

"You jerk." She said, standing beside the big rock with her hands on her hips.

Inuyasha looked up at her. "What kind of 'hello' is that?" He joked as he continued to play with the blade of grass in the stream.

Kagome snorted. "You know what I mean." She let out a sigh and sat down beside him on the rock. "What kind of business is this that you have to take care of?"

The silver haired dog demon sat up and looked at her. "Why are you mad at me?" He asked in a fake hurt voice.

Kagome shook her head and sighed frustratingly. "You are impossible." She said, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked down at the stream in front of them.

"Why am I?" He asked, picking up a daisy.

"You think you're all that don't you?" She side glanced at him. "The only time we actually have to face something, you get us to run away and we get in trouble."

"_Me_? Getting _us_ into trouble?" He asked. "Ho no, you have it wrong. _You_ are the one getting _us_ into trouble."

"Well you're supposed to be training me aren't you?" Kagome shot back.

"Yeah. But you are just _so_ hard to teach." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

Kagome titled her head to the side. "Why is that?" She barked.

Inuyasha was suddenly right in her face. His golden eyes connected with hers as Kagome felt like she couldn't breathe. He was so close that his breath tickled her nose. "Why? Because you're so distractive." He said, brushing his lips on hers in a soft kiss.

Kagome pushed against his chest, making him stop the kiss. "Enough. You're just toying with me."

"Why would I do that?" Inuyasha said in a very sly voice as he couldn't help but smirk at the blush on Kagome's cheeks.

Kagome was about to say something when they heard a scream coming from a nearby river. The two of them took off into a run and when they came to the angry raging river they saw a little raccoon demon boy had fallen into the river, clinging to a rock. On the other side of the river was the village where the boy lived and his mother was at the water's edge, crying for someone to save her son.

Inuyasha wasted no time at all and jumped into the raging waters and started to swim to the boy. The cold water splashed everywhere as Inuyasha kept his eyes on the little boy who was losing his grip by the second. Kagome watched helplessly as she walked up the bank, following Inuyasha with her eyes. She wished she could go over to the crying mother to comfort her but the river was too wide and too out of control to try and cross. Her eyes darted around and saw something that made her heart catch in her throat.

Inuyasha was almost at the boy when he heard Kagome screaming at him. He didn't know what was going on for the water was roaring too loud to hear Kagome but when he turned around for a split second, he saw that she was jumping up and down, pointing up stream. He looked to where she was pointing at and saw that a huge log was coming right for them. He had to act and quick.

He pushed himself farther to try and get the boy before the log got to them. He reached his hand out and almost got the boy but slipped on the boy's wet clothing, but he regained his grip. Grabbing the boy, he ducked under water just as the log hit them. Both Kagome and the women screamed as they thought that both had pulled down the river.

Kagome held her breath, her heart pounding so hard that she was scared it was going to explode. Her silver eyes darted around, trying to find any kind of sign that Inuyasha was still alive. Seconds past and the women on the other side fell to her knees, balling. Kagome's lungs almost burst as she still hadn't taken a breath.

Suddenly Inuyasha burst out of the water, gagging for air. He held the crying boy tight as he swam towards the other side. The women ran up to Inuyasha and grabbed her son into her arms, saying her thanks a hundred times as she tried to calm the boy down. The silver haired, now soaked dog demon just nodded and jumped back into the water, swimming back to the other side.

Kagome didn't take her eyes off of the silver haired demon as he swam back to her but her breath caught again as she saw that he was tired and losing strength to get back to the bank. He was almost there when his foot slipped on the bottom of the river, lost his balance and hit his head against the giant rock that was in the river. His head was sent spinning and when he had hit his head, as a reaction he opened his mouth in a gasp.

Kagome saw he was in trouble and dove into the water. Adrenaline pumped through her blood as she grabbed onto Inuyasha's waist and pulled him through the water. She pushed him up to the surface, pulled herself out of the water and then continued to pull him away from the water and to safety of the shore. When she saw that Inuyasha was breathing and away from danger, save for the fair gash on his temple, she finally let out her breath and pulled him into a hug as he continued to cough up water.

After Inuyasha gained more control of his breathing he pulled away from Kagome for a moment as he leaned over to try and stable his breathing more. His silver hair was all over the place, dripping with water and his bangs were almost covering his eyes, not able to see. Kagome reached a hand up and ran her fingers through his hair, fixing his bangs and pulling them away from his eyes as he looked up at her, trying to pull off a smirk but his lungs hurt too much to breathe.

There was a silence in the air as Kagome and Inuyasha locked eyes. Inuyasha was about to say something when Kagome suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately and Inuyasha kissed her right back, just as passionately.

o-o-o-o

Lord Akio walked through the gardens, admiring the beauty of the flowers. His thoughts were brought back from the flowers as he found his wife who was reading a book quietly under a tree. Walking over to her, he saw her look up and her face lit up in a bright smile as he sat down beside her.

As she watched her husband arrive in the garden and sit down beside her she locked eyes with him and her smile got bigger. "Hello dear, is everything ok?" She asked, placing a kiss on his lips.

"Where is Kagome at?" He asked, getting straight to the point as he looked at her and then up at the sky as a little bird fluttered by.

The black haired lady shook her head and went back to her reading. "Honestly Akio, you're worrying too much about her. She's seventeen and fully able to defend herself." She replied, talking admorably about their daughter.

She heard a huff come from her husband and she couldn't help but let out a chuckle and shake her head. "Sure she can kick any demon's ass. But what if it were that Inuyasha boy?" Akio said, adding some kind of disapproving tone when saying the stranger's name.

Lady Yuki looked back up from the book to Lord Akio and placed a hand on his cheek in a loving gesture. "What was that supposed to mean? Inuyasha has done nothing to hurt her, so why can't you just trust the boy." She stood up for the boy.

"How can you say that? He's Taisho's son!" Akio growled.

Black ears twitched as Yuki laughed. "He may be Taisho's son but you can't forget Izayoi. She raised him with such good manners. I like the boy. Kagome seems to like him too."

Akio huffed again. "Yeah." He ran his clawed hands through his jet black hair. "Maybe too much."

o-o-o-o

The need for air broke the two apart. Looking down at Inuyasha, Kagome couldn't help but continue to play with his hair as Inuyasha took deep breaths in and out. The two were still soaking wet but it didn't seem to bother either of them. Kagome pulled her arms away from around Inuyasha's neck and she began to fuss over the gash on his temple. The cut wasn't too bad, just a trickle of blood running down his face.

The raccoon demon woman from the other side waved to them, making them turn to her and her son. "Thank you so much for saving my son." She turned to Kagome with a huge smile. "Your boyfriend is a hero, bless you both." With that said, she walked back to the village with her still sobbing son.

Kagome turned back to Inuyasha and she noticed how the raccoon demoness must have seen them. The two leaning over each other, even making out so it must had looked like they were together. They seemed to be thinking the same thing at the same time and both let go of each other at the same time.

Kagome laughed a bit and looked down at herself. She was still completely drenched, her kimono was soaking wet and pressed to her body. "Boyfriend? Where did that come from?" She half laughed, unable to fight back the blush. She got up to her feet and turned down to help Inuyasha to stand up.

The silver haired boy smirked has he ran his clawed hand through his silver matted hair, leaning back on his palms. "Probably she saw the way you were kissing me with such passion that she made the assumption that we were together." He said, using a girly tone in the word 'passion'.

"Together?" The princess of the East repeated. "Don't be silly." She, suddenly wasn't able to look in his direction and busied herself with ringing out her kimono.

"Silly?" Inuyasha said from behind her, getting up to his feet and crossing his arms over his chest. "Admit it, you liked the kiss." He said, leaning over towards her.

"Like it? What the- no I didn't." Kagome couldn't help the blush getting deeper as she was finally able to look at him as she tried to glare at him but she had a strange feeling. She tried not to smile as she looked up at Inuyasha. She had to admit, she let her mind wander to actually thinking about Inuyasha as a boyfriend and she found herself back on Cloud Nine.

"Yes you did." Inuyasha pushed the issue.

"No I didn't." Kagome looked away again.

"Yeah, you did." Inuyasha walked around to where her eyes were.

"No. I didn't." Kagome looked up at Inuyasha.

"Yes you did."

Kagome huffed and stomped her foot. "You are so childish." She pointed her finger at him. "Anyway, I didn't see you pulling away. In fact, you were kissing me back." She smirked. "Which meant that you like it also."

Inuyasha laughed. "Did not."

"You must of because you were kissing me back with the same passion." Kagome shot a smirk back at him.

"Yeah, right." He said sarcastically.

Kagome growled and walked up to him, glaring into his eyes. "I know you liked it because I've kissed a couple of guys before and I know for a fact that none of them kissed back with the same kind of feeling you have."

"Really? That's funny because I would've never guessed that you kissed any guys before you met me." Inuyasha snickered, getting into her face.

They glared at each other for a moment, gold clashing with silver. "You liked the kiss." Inuyasha hissed.

"Oh yeah?" Kagome asked as she tilted her head to the side with attitude.

"Yeah." He answered, snatching her up in another passionate kiss which Kagome fell right into, kissing him back with the same force.


	7. Sleep

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 7: Sleep

o-o

Dark rain clouds loomed over the two kingdoms as the rain poured in buckets from the heavens. It was now week three that Inuyasha had been in the Eastern land and still hadn't gotten anywhere closer to the palace other than his tree. As the rainy season continued everyone in the kingdom stayed indoors - everyone but the prince and princess of the West and the East.

The said Western lands' prince, dressed in his normal fire rat kimono, grabbed Kagome's hand, trying to help her run faster. Of course they had gotten themselves in trouble... again... and they were running for their lives.

"Slow down Inuyasha." Kagome panted as she tried to keep up with the other dog demon in front of her. Her lungs were burning as her body screamed for oxygen which she couldn't get a breath in while she ran.

"We can't slow down." He barked at her, but it wasn't that he was mad at her, it was that they were in trouble. They had gotten themselves into _deep_ trouble and they were currently trying to run away from the herd behind them.

There was a herd of demon horses that were grazing in a nearby valley and Inuyasha thought that it would teach Kagome how to creep up on an unsuspecting animal. What had happened was Kagome did a great job on scaring the horse but the whole herd ganged up on the two and now they were running for their lives. Why was it that every time they used other demons as lesson's targets, they always ganged up on them.

The wet blades of the knee-high grass slashed at Kagome's bare legs, giving her cuts as she tried to run. She tried her hardest to keep up with Inuyasha. "Inuyasha I can't run any more. My legs hurt." She cried out, trying to miss the little rocks that dotted their path. She didn't hear Inuyasha give her an answer. She tried to run faster but her foot snapped a twig, making her roll her ankle, she lost her balance and she fell down to her knees.

Inuyasha suddenly lost his grip on Kagome's hand. Whipping his head around, he saw that the demon horses were almost on top of Kagome. Thinking fast, he drove for Kagome and used his own body to protect her. He wrapped his one arm around her waist and placed his other hand on the back of her head as he pulled her as close to his chest as possible.

Galloping horses pounded the ground as they ran by the prince and princess, just barely missing their heads. Their diamond hard hooves beat up the ground as they hit the earth. It was all over in three terrifying seconds.

Inuyasha lifted his head to see if the cost was clear. The horses were long gone by now and all there was dirt and turned up blades of grass floating in the air. He took one sweep of their surroundings and let out a sigh of relief that the horses hadn't turned around to attack them.

"I-Is it o-over? Kagome asked, her voice shaking. She looked up at Inuyasha with wide eyes, her heart pounding for the hundredth time since Inuyasha had arrived in her life. She thought that she was going to die when she had fallen but Inuyasha had saved her life.

The said dog demon looked down at her and tried to breathe out a laugh but his lungs burned. As Kagome looked at his face, she gasped as she saw a trail of blood run down his face. He had a big gash on his cheek. He nodded. "Yeah, I think we're safe." He gently got off Kagome and sat down beside her, watching her sit up.

Kagome got up into a sitting position and was about to stand when searing pain shot through her leg and side. She cried out in pain as she grasped her side. It felt like fire shooting through her muscles, a very painful fire. She took her hands away from her side and gasped as she saw that they were covered in blood.

Inuyasha looked at his own hand and saw that it too was covered in blood from Kagome's waist. His eyes widened as he looked back at Kagome. "You're hurt." He pointed out.

Growling in pain and rolling her eyes, Kagome looked up at Inuyasha. "No shit." She said sharply, holding her side, trying to apply pressure to the deep wound but it hurt almost too much for her to bear.

Inuyasha crawled up to her and pulled her hands from her side much to her displeasure. She tried to pull away from him, saying that it hurt too much but Inuyasha said that he had to treat it before it got any worse than it already was. He took off his fire rat haori and gathered it up into a big ball, placing it on her waist. Kagome cried out in pain as he pressed it too hard.

"Sorry." Inuyasha said, taking the cloth away from her side.

There was a big, sharp thorn sticking out from her waist. Blood oozed from the wound as Inuyasha tried to see if he could pull it out. Telling the idea to Kagome, she looked horrified as he inched his hand closer to the thorn. She tried to crawl away from him but every time she moved, the fire of pain made her stop with a sharp loud gasp.

"It's going to hurt." He said.

Kagome whimpered as she grabbed his hand for support. Inuyasha gave it a slight squeeze to tell her that he was there. "1... 2... 3!" Inuyasha counted. When he got to three, he quickly but carefully pulled the two inch thorn out of Kagome's side.

Kagome screamed in pain but was cut off from her yelling when Inuyasha covered her mouth with his in a kiss. While still kissing her, Inuyasha gently grabbed the forgotten cloth and covered Kagome's waist with it.

The pain hurt so badly, but because Inuyasha was kissing her, she couldn't scream in pain from her wound. Tears started to roll down Kagome's cheeks as she kissed Inuyasha back. After about a minute, Inuyasha finally pulled back, ending the kiss. Kagome was sobbing because of the pain of the pressure that Inuyasha was putting on her wound.

"I-It hurts." She said, trying to get away but Inuyasha for the third time but the silver haired demon tightened his grip around her waist. "Stop it, it hurts too much."

Inuyasha sighed, looking down at the girl in his arms and kissed the top of her head. The rain started to let up but a heavy fog started to roll in. A sound caught Inuyasha's attention. He turned his head to the right and Kagome felt his body stiffen. "The herd is coming back." He said, getting up. He arranged Kagome in his arms, carrying her bridal style and still holding the bloody cloth.

He started to walk in the direction of the East castle. It only took him a couple minutes but while he was walking Kagome stopped crying as she leaned her head against his shoulder, suddenly overwhelmed with tiredness. When the Westerner arrived at the East palace he lightly rapped his hand on the rice paper doors until one of the servants came to answer. When they opened the door Inuyasha didn't let the girl say a word and walked in. He didn't care if he had to deal with Lord Akio, Kagome was hurt and she needed attention right away.

All the commotion brought the attention of Lady Yuki as she walked down the hallway to see a soaked Inuyasha holding her daughter. She hurried over to the two and locked eyes with Inuyasha has she watched him breath heavily. "Come this way." She said, knowing this was not the time of explanations.

He followed the Lady of the East through the halls, still carrying the sobbing Kagome in his arms. Lady Yuki led him to Kagome's room and he laid her down on the bed. Inuyasha stood back out of the way, letting the black dog eared woman take care of her daughter. While Yuki cleaned and dressed Kagome's wound, Inuyasha told the story of how it all happened. To his surprise, she just nodded and didn't yell at him or anything.

While Yuki was caring for her daughter she glanced over at the golden eyed boy for a moment and she smiled at him. "You're lucky that Akio has stepped out for the night. I would hate to have seen his expression if he was here."

Inuyasha was surprised that the tone in her soft voice wasn't harsh or scolding but as a relief. He stood in the doorway, to stay out of the way incase Yuki needed to grab something. He just stood there, drenched in rain, soaked to the bone and covered in Kagome's blood.

After a while, the Lady turned around and smiled at Inuyasha. "She's sleeping now. Akio won't be back until later tomorrow evening so you are welcome to stay here for the night and rest up. I don't think it's very fun sleeping out in a tree when it's raining." She smiled at him as she walked up to him.

"No it's not." He said softly, bowing in respect. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Thank you for looking out for my daughter." Lady Yuki bowed to Inuyasha, much to his uneasiness. "You saved her life -again. We are very grateful to you," She smiled, "even though Akio might not show it. Goodnight Inuyasha." She said and walked out of the room, shutting the door slowly behind her.

When Lady Yuki left the room Inuyasha couldn't help but continue to look at the door in which she had left. The way that she had said his name was just like how his mother said his name and he couldn't help but let a smile show as he thought of her. He hadn't been him once since he had left that day and he wished that he could see her again. Shaking his thoughts away, he walked up to Kagome and sat on the edge of her bed. The princess was sleeping but it looked like it was painful to breathe. He gently took her hand in his and let out a quiet sigh.

Silver eyes slowly opened as Kagome started to wake up. She tried to move but was stopped by the pain and let out a groan. Inuyasha sat up a bit and leaned over her to see if she was ok.

"Kagome?" He whispered, not wanting to scare her or disturb the peacefulness of the atmosphere.

The said girl looked into golden eyes and she smiled a bit, seeing who it was. Her body was suddenly overcome with a warm peace that she seemed to get every time she would look into his eyes for she knew that she was safe that Inuyasha was with her. She tried to sit up but it hurt too much and she let out a small cry.

Inuyasha got up and moved closer to the princess, sitting beside her and helped her slowly sit up. "Are you ok?" He asked. "That's thorn was fricken' huge." He tried to pull a light joke.

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha and smiled a bit. She shook her head a tiny bit and looked back up at him. "Why are you in here? Aren't you going to get in trouble by my father?" Her eyes widened in fear for she didn't want Inuyasha to get caught by her father, she knew that with his overreacting he would surely kill him.

"Your mother said that he was out and she invited me in to stay out of the rain." As if on cue, lightning lit up the room and thunder soon followed. There was a silence over them for a moment. Inuyasha sighed as softly smiled down at Kagome. "You better get some rest. Your wound is still pretty deep, still fresh." He said, holding onto her shoulders and laying her back down on the pillow, gently. He had gotten a feeling in his stomach as he placed his hands on her shoulder, he felt scared that he was going to hurt her. She was so small compared to him and so fragile. He didn't want to hurt her.

"But-" Kagome tried to protest but was cut off when Inuyasha placed his lips over hers, silencing her with a soft kiss.

"Sleep." He whispered and as if magic, Kagome's eyes started to droop.

"Sleep..." They were the last words she heard as she closed her eyes, engulfed in a dream.

Inuyasha quietly sighed as he looked down at Kagome and saw that she had indeed fallen asleep. He was about to get up from the bed when Kagome wrapped her arm around his waist, making his freeze.

_'Ah crap. Now what am I supposed to do?'_ He thought as he tried to find a way to squirm out of her arm without waking her. _'If anyone finds me like this, they might think that I was trying to take advantage of her while she was injured.'_ He tried to move but Kagome only wrapped her other arm around him and muttered something in her sleep.

Suddenly, Inuyasha heard footsteps coming closer. _'Oh shit, I think someone is coming!'_ His mind panicked.

The door opened to show Lady Yuki coming back in with some blankets. She smiled at Inuyasha and told him that the blankets were for him to sleep on. "But I can see that Kagome here doesn't want you to leave." She chuckled as she placed the blankets at the foot of the bed for Inuyasha. With one last motherly smile towards the other dog demon she handed him one of the blankets.

Inuyasha's gaze turned from the lady to the blanket that was in his hands. He whispered a thank you as he watched Lady Yuki walk over to her daughter and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead and then headed for the door.

Before leaving, she turned around and looked at Inuyasha. "Take care of her." She smiled and left before he could say anything. Inuyasha blinked towards the door couldn't help but let a small smile show as he turned his head, looking down at the sleeping Kagome. He couldn't help but stare at her beautiful face; she looked so peaceful and gentle when she was dreaming.

"Goodnight Kagome." He whispered, giving her a kiss on the forehead and then managed to wiggle his way out of her grip and walked over to the other wall across from her bed. He leaned against the wall, wrapping the blanket around him, rested his head against the wall and slowly drifted into sleep.


	8. Stars

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 8: Stars

o-o

After that stormy day in the valley, Kagome made a full recovery after a week or so of rest. Everything seemed right - Kagome was in full health, Lady Yuki made up an excuse to tell her husband as to why their daughter was so ill, Inuyasha enjoyed his well rested night out of the rain and Lord Akio never found out about anything about how his daughter was hurt or about the night Inuyasha spent inside the castle.

It had now been a month and a half since Inuyasha had been in the Eastern lands and ever since that day at the riverside, the two had started to get very close. The two would spend hours sitting outside on sunny days while Kagome was healing and they would sit on the porch and talk about different things. Lady Yuki found them sitting outside laughing and joking while she couldn't help but smile as she saw that her daughter was happy.

While Lady Yuki was happy, she sometimes caught her husband growling under his breath when he would catch the two teens together. Lord Akio still didn't like the idea of the Western prince being so close to his daughter but Lady Yuki told him to give Inuyasha a chance and to see what would happen in the end. The Lord and Lady both noticed that Kagome had been hanging around the white haired demon more often. Lady Yuki would always defend Inuyasha in conversations with her husband but the lord still didn't trust the prince and had still set the rule that Inuyasha was to sleep outside.

After Kagome recovered completely from her thorn wound, Inuyasha decided that she was well enough to continue with her training in both hunting and fighting skills. He tried to hide his anxious thoughts for little did the Eastern kingdom know that during the past week, Lord Taisho of the West as keeping a close eye on his son and the Eastern lord's daughter. The Western Lord had noticed that the two were getting awfully close but he just passed it as saying that it was all part of Inuyasha's plan.

But then he had spotted them kissing a couple times and he started to worry about Inuyasha. What if he had forgotten about the plan and he was really falling in love with Kagome? No, no that cannot be true. Inuyasha was still going along with his father's plan. Right?

Wrong.

o-o-o-o

"Inuyasha are we done yet?" Kagome whined as all she could see was darkness for she had a blindfold on. This was a new lesson that Inuyasha was teaching her, how to sense someone around you while you can't see them. So far she was doing ok according to the silver haired prince but the sun was starting to set and Kagome was getting tired.

"Oh come now princess, are you tired already?" Inuyasha chuckled as he quietly walked around Kagome in a circle like a prowling lion after his prey. He accidently snapped a twig and he watched as Kagome's black dog ear twitched around to the sound and she also turned her head, figuring out that Inuyasha was to her left.

"We've at this for hours now, my feet hurt." Kagome said as she tried to reach up to take her blindfold off but Inuyasha beat her to it and grabbed her hands, away from the cloth around her eyes.

"Ah ah ah!" Inuyasha teased as he continued to hold her hands gently while he stepped around to stand in front of her. "Can't we make this more fun?" Kagome heard him chuckle.

"I don't know, I thought you were supposed to be training me." The black haired girl tilted her head with attitude as she tried to wiggle her hands out of Inuyasha's grip but it was no use. She had to admit, being around Inuyasha was something that she looked forward to every morning when she woke up. She loved his smile, well more his smirk than anything. His golden eyes were something that she could stare at for hours, the molten amber pools were like a mystery to her.

"Oh I know, but you've been training all day... and I thought we could make this more interesting." There's that word again; _'interesting'_. How many times did she hear that word? It seemed to be the only word that she would use to describe anything, how she felt for she had never felt any kind of sensation like she did when she was with Inuyasha. Her mother would always ask her how her day went when she would come home in the evening and the only answer she could give was 'interesting'.

All she could do was stand where she had been standing for the last four hours, listen to Inuyasha's voice but suddenly when he stopped talking, Kagome started to wonder what was going on. As she stood there she tried to calm her breathing, not to mention the pounding heart as she tried to concentrate and listen to what was going on around her. She was about to say something when suddenly she felt a light feeling around her waist. Light; feather light on her skin and she couldn't help but wiggle around. What was going on?

That was when she heard chuckling from Inuyasha and she realized what he was doing to her. Inuyasha was tickling her! Tickling was basically her biggest weakness, that and being around Inuyasha. But tickling was like torturing her with laughter and feather light feelings over her sensitive skin. "I-Inuyasha... P-Please stop!" She cried as she tried to get away from Inuyasha but he had a firm grip of both her hands with his one hand while he used the other hand to torture her some more. Running his fingers lightly over her shoulders, up and down her neck and across her cheeks. She was going mad with laughter and she couldn't do anything to get away.

"P-Please hahahaha... Inu-Inuyasha stop!" Kagome giggled as her sides began to hurt with the laughter that was forced onto her by his touch. She managed to get one of her hands free and ripped off her blindfold and turned to Inuyasha. She laughed as she tried to get her other hand away from him but he fought back by twirling the silver eyed girl around in his arms so that her back was to her chest and her one arm was pinned behind her.

She had no choice but to stand still in her predator's grip, leaning her head back while trying to catch her breath. Inuyasha couldn't help but laugh harder as he leaned his chin down on her shoulder. When she managed to catch her breath, she let out a out a giggle as the furry dog ears atop his head twitched around, tickling the skin under her chin.

"I got you now." He whispered. His voice rumbling with a slight mock growl that sent chills up Kagome's body.

"Oh really?" Kagome couldn't help but smirk as she watched from the corner of her eye as Inuyasha raise an eyebrow. Her hands may have been pinned back but that didn't mean her feet were unable to move. She wrapped her right leg around Inuyasha's leg and pulled, making Inuyasha lose his balance and he fell.

"Argh." Inuyasha let out a moan as his back hit the ground hard and Kagome landing on top of him. When he fell, his grip on Kagome was gone and she got up, sitting beside Inuyasha on the ground. "That was pretty clever." The boy lying beside her remarked as he also sat up.

"Well I guess I learn from the best." Kagome laughed as she ran her fingers through her own hair.

"Oh, I'm touched." Inuyasha gasped jokingly. "I think that is the first compliment you have ever given me." He said, acting like he was going to cry.

"Well you have taught me a lot since you came here." Kagome admitted as she leaned closer to the white dog eared boy. "I guess you deserve a thank you once in a while." She smiled sweetly and gave him a short kiss on the cheek.

o-o-o-o

After their training was over, the sun had already set and the stars were coming out for the night, followed by the bright round moon. Their training was finished for the day and Kagome decided to invite Inuyasha to come watch the stars with her out in the valley.

When asked where they were going, Kagome answered that they were going out to a special place as she grabbed his hand and led him to the valley. There was a tree that Kagome remembered well from when she was a child. The Goshinboku. She remembered that her mother once told her that it was a very special tree to both kingdoms and to the people of the lands.

She remembered that when she was a little girl she would go out to this tree and she would sit under the tree for countless hours and tell the tree about her day at the palace. She would tell the old tree about her problems and things that made her happy. Her mother had always told her that the tree would always listen to the stories that Kagome would tell it. Ever since she could remember, the tree was a very special part of her family.

When they got to the tree Kagome smiled at the tree like it was an old friend and she ran her hand down the old bark. She turned back to Inuyasha and smiled brightly at him, her silver eyes shining like they reflected the moon's light. "Come sit." She invited as she sat down on the grass, joined by Inuyasha a moment later.

The two lay in the grass, under the shading braches of the tree as they looked up at all the hundreds of stars glimmering in the dark blue sky. Silence filled the atmosphere as the two enjoyed the light breeze around them.

"My mother and I used to do this all the time." Kagome whispered as she looked up at the sky. "We would make pictures out of the stars and talk about different things." She searched the sky for some of the constellations that her mother had taught her when she was a child.

Inuyasha was quiet for a moment, not wanting to disturb the peace. He had to admit, it had been a long time since he had felt at peace. "Why do you like coming to this tree." He asked. There are plenty of other trees, why this one?

"What?" She whispered, looking over at him, seeing that his face reflected that of relaxation.

"Well it's just that when we were little I remembered seeing you hang around this tree a lot." The boy lying beside her said. It was true; when he was a child he remembered seeing a little girl with her mother out in the valley. He remembered sitting outside with his father and though his father was trying to teach his son something, Inuyasha would stare out into the valley and watch the little girl play around the tree.

"Where you spying on me?" She asked, propping her head up on her elbow, looking at him.

"No, no." Inuyasha said, waving his hands in the air innocently. "I would always be outside with my father and I saw a little girl around the tree all the time." He explained.

Kagome smiled and then lied back down. "Oh." She sighed and then the silence returned around them. "I remembered one time when I was little, my mother brought me out here and she said that if I ever had something to say but didn't want to tell anyone, I should come out here and tell the tree." She explained and then she realized how comfortable around Inuyasha she was. She had never told anyone what she did. Not even her best friend knew that she told the tree her stories and now she just told Inuyasha.

Inuyasha looked over at her and laughed a bit. "Talk to the tree?" He repeated as he watched Kagome bite her lip.

Kagome turned her gaze up at the branches of the tree in question. "This isn't just any tree. It's the Goshinboku - the God Tree. Haven't you noticed that this tree is in the middle of the valleys? Where the West and the East meet?" Kagome pointed out as she looked to her left she saw her home, the East palace and then when she looked to her right she saw the Western palace.

"I never thought of it that way." She heard Inuyasha whisper.

"And where there was that fire, it never attacked this tree." The princess pointed out as she looked over the valley which was still recovering from the devastating effects of that blaze. "This tree is special."

When he heard Kagome mention the fire, Inuyasha suddenly got a very sick feeling to his stomach. As he looked over the valley he saw the once luscious valley, now tainted with brown dead patches where the grass was struggling to grow back, black skeletons of trees that once provided homes for birds and little forest animals. He realized that fire was so deadly and ate everything in its path. It was his fault that the valley had to now struggle to revive from the brink of death. He looked over at Kagome and his guilt grew.

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha when he didn't reply and he saw that he had a very troubled look on his face. She got up into a sitting position and looked down at him. "Are you ok?"

Her voice broke through his thoughts as he looked up at her. "Huh? Oh I was just thinking." He said as he tried to give her a smile.

Kagome didn't seem satisfied with his answer but she returned his smile and laid back down but this time she laid right beside him and rested her head on his chest. As a reaction Inuyasha wrapped his arm around Kagome, behind her back and around her waist. Neither of them said anything, for they didn't need words. The two stayed under the tree for what seemed like the entire night, watching the stars and pointing out different constellations that glimmered in the sky.

o-o-o-o

Meanwhile, unknown by the cuddling couple they were being watched by the Western ruler and Inuyasha's father, Lord Taisho. He was standing outside in the garden, watching with his keen golden eyes as his son talked with the princess.

"Oh my boy, you are a genius." He said watching the two cuddle together. A smiled grew on his face as the plan was still in motion. Or was it? Thinking about it for a while, he had come up with a plan of his own that would stop Inuyasha from really falling in love with Kagome.

And the plan was fool proof.

o-o-o-o

As Kagome looked up at the sky, she realized that watching the stars can really make time fly by fast and before she knew it, she was starting to get sleepy. Her thoughts were confirmed by trying to suppress a yawn.

When she yawned, she heard Inuyasha's light laughter from behind her. Looking up at him, she smiled and rested her head back on his chest. The two were now up in the tree, sitting on one of the thickest branches. Inuyasha had his back resting against the old truck while Kagome was lying in front of him, his arms wrapped around her waist and holding her close.

Kagome shivered a bit and Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her protectively, to try and give her some warmth from his body. The Western Prince let out a content sigh and rested his head against the trunk for a moment and he felt Kagome turn around in his arms. He took a hand and tilted her chin up so he could look at her. He was lost in her silver eyes again like all those other times they had kissed. He ran his hand up and down her cheek, feeling the smooth, soft skin of her cheek under his fingers.

Kagome reached a hand up and started to rub one of his furry white ears. She knew from her own dog ears that Inuyasha would melt at her touch - and that he did. A deep but soft growling sound came from deep in Inuyasha's chest. Kagome smiled up and him and leaned up a bit, meeting his lips in a soft kiss. Inuyasha wrapped his arm around her waist tighter and pulled her even closer to him. He growled a bit and turned to soft kiss into a hot and fiery one.

The need for air made them part to catch their breath. Inuyasha stared into her moon lit eyes and gave her a goofy smile. Kagome smiled back and continued to scratch his ear. The soft growling came back and Inuyasha leaned into her hand, meeting her lips again in a soft kiss.

When he was kissing her Inuyasha couldn't help but realize that he was really happy with her, happier than any other time he could remember. When he pulled back, he cleared his throat, telling her that he had something to say. Kagome understood and stopped scratching his ear and she could feel her heart speed up a bit. Why must her heart always go out of control when she was near him, she figured one of these times she was going to have a heart attack.

Inuyasha took his one hand and intertwined his fingers with Kagome's. "Kagome..." He took a deep breath and he suddenly felt his heart speed up. It was an unfamiliar feeling - to be nervous. "I... I love you Kagome." Inuyasha said quietly but he knew that Kagome's keen hearing would pick it up. When she looked up at him he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Kagome smiled up at him, rubbing his ear again. She could almost feel tears come up but she kept them down. She didn't want to make this a sappie moment. But it felt so wonderful. All those nights laying in bed thinking about him got her to the conclusion that she had fallen in love with him. She had fallen in love with Inuyasha and now, to hear those words come out of his mouth. He loved her?

"I love you too Inuyasha." She whispered back, meeting his lips again and her heart soared as she couldn't help but smile against his lips.


	9. Oh No

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 9: Oh No

o-o

The sun warmed against Kagome's face and silver eyes slowly opened as Kagome woke up from her pleasant sleep. Oh she had such a wonderful dream, being with Inuyasha of course. She then heard a sweet chirping and she saw a little blue bird perched on her knee. She smiled and laid her head back down on her pillow behind her, thinking back to her wonderful dream.

Wait. The pillow was breathing.

Kagome tried to come up with a reason with why her pillow was moving but she shook them away. Her thoughts where just playing with her head. She slowly looked up and saw that it wasn't a pillow. But in fact it was Inuyasha. She looked around and her eyes widened.

They were still in the tall branches of the God Tree! And really high up, on that same thick branch that they were sitting in that night while watching the stars. Kagome came to the conclusion that they must have both fallen asleep.

The little bird and long since flown away as Kagome turned around slightly. She looked up at Inuyasha and paused for a moment, seeing how peaceful he looked while dreaming. She then gently shook his shoulder. "Inuyasha, wake up." She whispered as not to startle him.

Golden eyes opened slowly as the white haired demon started to wake up. Inuyasha shook his head a fraction and focused on the angel in front of him. "Hey, Kagome." He said, giving her a good morning kiss on the cheek which he noticed Kagome then had a bright red blush on her cheeks which made him smile. "What are you doing here in the garden?" He asked, his head still groggy from waking up.

Kagome couldn't help but giggle as she looked around at the branches of the tree. "I'm not in the garden." She said and she saw him form a questioning look on his face. "And neither are you. We're still in the Goshinboku."

Inuyasha looked around and came up with the conclusion that yes they were up in a tree but then he noticed that instead of seeing the kingdom walls or the porch from the great house they were surrounded but knee length grass. He looked back at Kagome and chuckled. "Oh. I guess we fell asleep up here, huh?" He smiled.

"Yeah we did." Kagome smiled as she looked down at the ground. "Well I guess we better get back before my Dad turned the entire kingdom upside down to find me." She said in a sad tone. Her Dad seemed like such a threat since Inuyasha came into her life, he was always there to bug her about her day and not in the friendly way either. More like an interrogation.

With that said Kagome jumped out of the tree and landed softly on her feet. She looked up, expecting Inuyasha to follow and she couldn't help but laugh as he lazily rolled off the thick branch and landed on all fours before straightening up. Without saying a word, just smiles to show that they were happy, they began their walk back to the Eastern Palace holding hands quietly.

When they got closer to the Eastern Kingdom, Kagome felt Inuyasha's step falter and she couldn't help but let out a sad sigh. Ever since the Western Prince had arrived, Kagome felt like he acted like he was imprisoned outside. Her father wouldn't let him go anywhere near the house, he threatened once that he wouldn't be allowed anywhere near Kagome too. She felt like it was her fault that Inuyasha felt so... so limited to being himself.

Inuyasha heard her sigh and he stopped on the dirt path and turned to Kagome with a soft smile. "Don't worry about me. Just go and tell your parent's that you ain't dead." He joked and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before she ran off to the house.

Kagome entered the hall and was surprised to see, or to not see the servants running around the halls looking for the 'missing' princess. She slipped her shoes off and slowly walked down the hall, counting down the seconds until she ran into someone. When she turned the corner, that person she ran into was her mother. Her heart skipped a beat, scared for a second that it was going to be her father but she let out an inward sigh.

"Oh, Kagome there you are." Her mother sighed as she wrapped her arms around her in a welcoming hug.

"Ah, about that." Kagome took a deep breath while she looked up at her mother's silver shining eyes. "You see, Inuyasha and I were watching the stars last night by the Goshinboku and we kinda fell asleep." She told the story while rubbing the back of her head.

Lady Yuki only smiled and Kagome could see that her mother understood and she praised the gods for blessing her with such a loving mother. "I wasn't worried. I knew you were with Inuyasha." She placed a soft hand on her daughter's cheek. "He's a very nice young man isn't he?" She lightly laugh, her eyes shining even more.

Kagome couldn't help but smile more. "Thank you for understanding Mother." Kagome was about to turn and continue down the hall to get some breakfast when she heard her mother clear her throat and she knew that her mother had more to say.

"Your father wanted to see you. He's in his training room." The black haired woman said and Kagome could see the worry now apparent in her mother's eyes and she suddenly got the worry that not everything was going to be bright and cherry with her father. "Go on, he's waiting for you." Lady Yuki shooed her daughter off and her daughter headed down the hall to her father.

Knowing the silver haired prince would likely be waiting outside for her daughter, Lady Yuki ventured outside and saw Inuyasha sitting on a nearby rock by the dirt path. She stepped out on the grass to talk to him and told Inuyasha that Kagome had to go see her father and probably wouldn't be out for a while. With the newly attained information he just received, Lady Yuki saw that his ears drooped a bit at the knowledge that he wouldn't see Kagome for a while.

"You are welcome to come inside for something to eat." She invited. "I'm sure you're hungry." With that, the prince got up to his feet and followed the Lady of the East into the house to get some breakfast.

o-o-o-o

Her heart started to pound as Kagome got closer to her father's room. Thoughts ran through her mind, both the good and the bad and some of her thoughts even scared her. She blamed it on her creative imagination but it got her to think; she never realized how much she feared for what her father would actually do. When she finally arrived to the room the princess waited for a moment to calm her heart and then lightly rapped her knuckles against the paper doors.

When she got the answer to come in she slid the paper doors open and bowed in respect to her father. When she looked up she saw that her father had been training with another person. But when her father moved to the side, she saw the guy smile at her and she almost died.

But it wasn't one of those blissful ways of almost dying at the sight of a smiling guy. This was a horrible death of seeing someone she most dreaded. She recognized this guy that was on the other side of her father. It was Koga. Oh God it was Koga! A wolf demon that used to hang around the castle when they were younger. About a year older than her, Kagome found him annoying from the very beginning but he just wouldn't take no for an answer. He was too much of a showoff and she turned him down numerous times when he had asked her out.

She really couldn't stand the guy. And this guy was either really stupid or too stubborn to understand the word 'no'. She would try to come up with any excuse she could to get away and to avoid the wolf demon. But as luck would someone help out, his his wolf tribe had a political dispute a couple years back and he hadn't had much time to bug her. But this time there was no turning back. Remembering that she was the princess of the East, she swallowed her distaste for the demon and bowed in respect to him, cursing the entire time.

Trying to ignore him for as long as possible, she turned to her father. "You wished to see me, Father?"

"Ah yes Kagome." The tall dog demon smiled, placing his sword away. "Where were you yesterday?" He got straight to the interrogation.

Kagome looked down at the floor, scared to see her father's face at her answer. "I was with Inuyasha." She didn't lie. "We lost track of time looking at the stars and we fell asleep." Just a father's worst thought; their teenage daughter unsupervised with an uncontrollable teenage male. Kagome expected her father to blow up.

"You were with him again?" He asked, rubbing his forehead in thought. What was he going to do? No matter how many times he told Kagome to stay away from that... that... threat she would never listen. "Well, I was thinking about that Inuyasha person and..."

Kagome's eyes lit up as she looked up at her father with hope. Maybe... just maybe her father will finally see that Inuyasha wasn't bad and he would let him stay. Oh please!

"...and I still do not approve of him here. I don't want you around him anymore. He could be setting a trap. You could get hurt." Her father just threw all of her hopeful dreams out the window.

Bummer. Her ears drooped. "But Father, Inuyasha isn't bad. I've been around him for a while now and he hasn't done anything to harm me. He had even saved me a couple times." She tried to talk in his defense but she could feel the hopefulness leave the room in a cold rush.

"I don't care. You are not to be around him anymore." Lord Akio said raising his voice, looking down at his daughter with a stern look. "In fact, I think he's overstayed his welcome."

Kagome could tell that this conversation was over and she could feel tears surface and threaten to spill down her cheeks but she fought them back. No, she was going to be strong in front of her father. She was about to leave when her father suddenly spoke up.

"Koga here had presented a plan to me." Her ear twitched around at the name Koga and she couldn't help but make a sour face while her back was turned to her father. She looked at her father sideways, waiting for him to continue but not wanting to hear anymore from Koga.

"He had asked me permission for your hand in marriage." Her father's voice echoed through her ears.

Time seemed to stop, Hell must of froze over, the Fat Lady sang and all those other descriptions of something truly horrifying. Kagome whipped her head around, so fast that it seemed like she would surely snap her neck. "WHAT!" Her voice screeched.

At the mention of his name, Koga stepped up from behind Kagome's father and walked up to the stunned Kagome. He reached down and held her hands in his and looked down at her. "Now we can be together, forever." He said.

Together? Forever? Hell no!

"No!" She yelled, ripping her hands from his grasp. She could see the shocked look on both her father's face and on Koga's. "No. I don't."

"What? W-Why not?" The wolf demon asked. He never thought Kagome out ever act this way. He always remembered her as the quiet and very polite princess - little did he realize that she was quiet because she always tried to stay away from him.

"Koga, I don't like you that way. I've never liked you that way. I don't agree to this." Kagome said, stomping her foot like a two year old. She was just so furious at what was going on that she would either stomp her foot or put her first through the wall. She opted for the less harmful one. "I'm not going to marry you." She could feel hot tears form at the corners of her eyes and she knew she wouldn't be able to hold them back this time. And with that she ran out the door.

"Kagome wait!" Koga tried to run after the upset princess but he felt a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. Looking up he saw Lord Akio shaking his head. Realizing that Akio was holding him back from his daughter and realizing that he had upset Kagome, the wolf demon hung his head in defeat.

"I'm sorry Koga."

o-o-o-o

After his pleasent breakfast with Lady Yuki, Inuyasha excussed himself from the room and headed out to the God Tree. He realized that Kagome hadn't come out from seeing her father so he decided that he would wait for her by their special place. Thinking about what he just called the God Tree he couldn't help but chuckle at his thoughts. They have a 'special place' now? He sat at the base of the tree with his back against the trunk, letting the light breeze calm him into peace. He had almost drifted off into a doze when he felt a sudden prick on his chest.

Looking down he smacked his chest and a little flea demon floated down into his palm. It was Myouga, his father's retainer. "Master Inuyasha, your father wishes to speak with you." The little flea said, puffing back to his normal size.

Not asking any questions and figuring Kagome wouldn't be back for a while, Inuyasha nodding. "Alright." The dog demon sighed and took off to the skies towards the Western lands. He would never question Myouga about his father but while he was heading back to the West, he wondered why his father would want to see him. Even though the plan was to stay away from the West lands, it must have been important if his father wanted to speak with him.

o-o-o-o

Her vision was a bit blurry as the tears clouded her eyes. How could this be happening? She didn't take even one more look at her father or Koga as she dashed out of the room, not even bothering to close the rice paper doors. Kagome rushed passed the servants in the halls and ignored their words of concerns. She knew that she was crying now, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks as she choked back a few sobs. The upset princess dashed into the courtyard and jumped into the sky. When she touched down a couple of yards away from the palace she headed into the valley, to the Goshinboku to think.

Tears continued to flow down her cheeks as she choked back another sob. Stupid Koga. Why did he have to ask her hand in marriage? She knew her father was going to be ever more controlling and now that Koga is in the picture she knew her father would pressure her into actually marrying him. She hated him and she knew that he knew that she hated him - either that or he was a complete idiot. Why didn't he just get the picture and take a hike?

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down. She wanted to be strong. Even though she hated her father at this moment she remembered his words on never showing your tears. Showing your tears opens your weaknesses to the enemy. When she closed her eyes, a picture appeared in her mind's eye. Inuyasha. A smiled appeared on her face as she opened her eyes and jumped into the green leaves of the God Tree.

"Stupid Koga." She said up to the sky, too upset to actually come up with a worse name to call him. "Burn in Hell for all I care." She sighed, wiping away the last of her tears as she settled down onto her favourite branch, the very branch that she slept in with Inuyasha the night before. Looking around, she saw that the said silver haired prince wasn't around. "I wonder where he is." She asked out loud but just passed it by thinking that he was just off hunting or something. It wasn't like he had to be with her all the time. _'But that wouldn't be all that bad.'_ Her mind thought.

o-o-o-o

While on the way to the Western Lands, Myouga gave Inuyasha more details of his father's order to speak with him. According to the flea demon, Taisho wanted to see his son in the garden. On the way to the palace on the other end of the valley Inuyasha kept asking himself the same question; why would his father want to see him? Wouldn't this wreck the plan?

At that thought, he almost faltered in step and almost fell on his face. The stupid plan- this is what started everything in the first place. The stupid plan set fire to the valley, killing all the life. The stupid plan forced him to be sleeping in a tree for the past months... the stupid plan made him get closer to Kagome. But he couldn't call the plan stupid because of that, he would praise the plan for helping him fall in love with Kagome but his conscience kept asking him, was it for the right reason. No, the plan is wrong and he decided that he would talk to his father about it. Maybe he can show his father that his ideas are wrong.

When he got to the Western Lands his first thought was _'I'm home.'_ He hadn't stepped foot in the Western Lands for several months now and he couldn't help but feel a little homesick. Well more homesick in the sense that he missed his bed terribly. Every night when he would be falling asleep in the tree he would always look out into the distance and wish he was home.

Walking down one of the dirt trails the main garden, he was then reminded of another reason why he was homesick. His mother. When his eyes landed on his mother, he couldn't help but feel like a child again, wanting to give his mother a big hug for he missed her so. Instead of running up to her, Inuyasha slowly walked up to her and bowed to the Lady of the West.

Lady Izayoi heard her son was coming home and she had waited in the gardens all day to see him.. When she saw him come around the corner of the dirt path she suddenly felt a wave of relief overcome her. She had been so worried about Inuyasha during the months he had been gone and now he was home. She watched as he bowed to her and she rushed up to him and wrapped her arms around him in a loving hug. "My son."

Inuyasha was a bit startled that his mother tackled him in a hug but he soon melted in his mother's loving embrace. He reached his hands up and hugged her back, breathing in her scent of lilies that he missed so much. He had always been very close to his mother and this little 'trip' away from home made him realize how special she was to him.

Golden eyes shawn like the sun and silvery white hair that glimmered like fresh fallen snow. Izayoi pulled away and placed a soft hand on her son's cheek. "Oh how I have missed you. How have you been?" Her white dog ears rested on the top of her head just as her son's and her husband's and her snow white hair was let down, reaching passed her lower back. She was dressed in a white kimono that had embroidered images of lilies and herons on it.

"I have missed you also Mother." Inuyasha showed Izayoi a smile. "I've been ok, I guess." He said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And the plan?" She questioned, her golden eyes turning a dull yellow for a moment. She had never liked the plan and while her son was away that was all she could think about and how much she disliked her husband's ideas.

"Ok." Inuyasha murmured, not able to meet his mother's eyes. Instead he looked down at the ground.

"Well your father wishes to speak with you so I won't hold you back anymore." Lady Izayoi said, changing the subject. She gave her son one last hug and watched as her son walked past her toward Taisho. "Be safe."

Inuyasha made his way down the dirt path until he came to the garden and took a deep breath. When he walked into the garden he saw his father standing under a tree, talking to a young lady.

Oh no, not her.

Inuyasha saw who it was and groaned quietly as he continued to walk. Oh how he wished he could just turn right around and run to Kagome.

Kikyo. Oh boy that name brought shivers down his spine. That girl was trouble and nothing but a headache. When they were little she would run after him wherever he would go. She would always bring him flowers and ask him on 'dates' though they were only ten. The answer was simple: no.

No way in Hell.

But still, he was the Prince of the West and if he would turn around right now his father would surely kick his ass for being rude. So he pushed his thoughts back for a moment and walked up to his father, bowing in respect as always. He then turned to her with very cold eyes and also bowed, being polite and everything. As he looked up at her he couldn't help but look her over. She had long black hair and was dressed in red and white priestess attire.

"Inuyasha." Lord Taisho greeted, placing a strong hand on his son's shoulder. "I figure you already know Kikyo here." He announced, looking over to the girl to his right.

Inuyasha followed his gaze back to the girl, his face changing to no emotion as he looked at her. She was a damn cat. Yeah that's right, a cat in these parts. Cats ruled the South regions while dogs rule the East and West. But she did have some power. Priestess power; hence the clothing. While he looked at her he couldn't help but point out in his thoughts that she looked a lot alike someone he already knew.

The thought hit him like he had just been punched. In the gut, in the head or in the heart he didn't know where the punch hit him but he couldn't believe it. Wait! She looked like Kagome!

Kagome. As he thought about the princess he couldn't help but let a small, almost unnoticeable smile. At first he and his father were going this to get back at Lord Akio, although he never understood why in the first place. But even though he didn't understand what was really going on, he knew this plan would bring nothing but more trouble. And while he had been 'living' in the Eastern Land he came to know Kagome and realized that he had fallen in love with her. He was in love with Kagome. During all that time together he realized how much Kagome meant to him.

"We have great news Inuyasha." Lord Taisho smiled, placing a gentle hand on Kikyo's shoulder. Her expression on her face hadn't changed since Inuyasha had arrived and the silver haired prince wondered if her expression would ever change.

She had longer hair than Kagome; her hair had a tint of brown while the princess he loved had a tint of lighter black -almost blue. Kikyo's eyes were a stone brown and very cold while Kagome's silver eyes shawn with life. Kikyo seemed to be all about uniform by the way she wore the priestess outfit and her bow and arrows resting against the nearby tree.

His father's words broke through Inuyasha's thoughts and the prince looked up at his father. "We have arranged a marriage between you and Kikyo. This bond with strengthen our relationship with the South."

Inuyasha couldn't believe his ears and all he could get out was a very shocked, "What!" He tried to collect his thoughts but he couldn't get words out right. "W-What about the plan?" He asked, trying to get his mind away from Kikyo. Sure, he didn't like the plan anymore but if he married Kikyo -oh God- than that would mean that he would never see Kagome again.

"Don't you worry son, the plan is still in motion." Lord Taisho explained, his evilish smirk returned. "You will complete the plan and dump the girl like a rock and come straight back here to marry Kikyo." His father's words burned in his ears and all he could manage was to shake his head.

Married to Kikyo? That witch... that _cat_? Not if Inuyasha had anything to say about it!

"No." Inuyasha said, stepping back. He knew that he would hear from his angry father later but he didn't care, he didn't agree with this. "Hell no. I'm not marrying a damn _cat_." he barked, sending a hard glare at Kikyo who's expression still hadn't changed - there was something wrong with this girl. He took one last look at his father , who he could see was seething in anger and without another word he ran out of the garden and jumped the kingdom walls, running towards the east - to Kagome.

Oh boy.


	10. Trouble

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 10: Trouble

o-o

Night was coming as the sun started to move to the other horizon for the night. Everyone was settling down for the evening - everyone except the royal family. Lord Akio had been walking through the entire royal house in the search of his daughter while some of the guards were ordered to search around the Eastern villages. "Has anyone seen Kagome?" Lord Akio asked around the castle as he walked up and down the halls. Its seems no one had seen princess since the two got into that fight.

"Where could she be?" Koga asked, walking along side the dog lord. He had been staying by Akio's side the entire time, trying to help find Kagome. He also still couldn't wrap his head around why the princess turned down his proposal so quickly and so angerly.

A sigh came the black haired demon. "I have no idea. I didn't think she would get that upset." Akio shook his head, since when did he become such a horrible parent? "Yuki says not to worry and that she will be home soon." Lord Akio said as he remembered his wife's words.

The wolf demon nodded in agreement to what Lord Akio said as he continued to look around. He then looked up at the lord with his ice blue eyes. "When did Lady Yuki tell you this?"

Akio's sighs turned into a growl. "She said that two hours ago." He looked around the halls again and then they entered the garden. "Kagome has been gone all day."

o-o-o-o

When Kagome had gotten to the God Tree, she suddenly felt a calming feeling overcome her like the presence of the tree was comforting her. When she was up in the tree, sitting on her favourite branch, she felt like the tree was hugging her, it's old yet very strong branches envelving her in green and shutting her away from the outside world. She felt comforted yet was still upset. She sat up in the tree and cried. Why was it so hard? She loved Inuyasha and yet her father didn't trust him at all. And worse; her father wanted her to marry Koga.

Kagome looked up from her face being buried in her knees and looked around. She missed Inuyasha and realized that she hadn't seen him in a while. Sighing, she closed her eyes and rested her head against the trunk of the tree. Inuyasha would come soon and everything would be ok again.

o-o-o-o

His anger still fresh in his mind, he couldn't help but snarl as he continued to run to the Eastern lands. Forget what he thought before, he hated the plan. Inuyasha was furious. As he ran to the Eastern lands he finally made up his mind and decided that he was going to tell Kagome everything. The truth about the plan.

"I have to do this, I have to set everything right." Inuyasha growled, almost couching himself to do this. "I love you Kagome." He whispered out loud as he closed his eyes for a moment as he floated back down to the ground from his jump. When his foot hit the ground he opened his eyes again and took off into the sky again.

As he got closer to the royal house he could feel his heart start to speed up. This was such a big mess and it was resting of his shoulders to set it right. Though he knew he was strong, it was the thought of going against an angry Lord Akio that made him sweat. When he got to the castle, he stopped running and walked through the pathway to try and find someone who could tell him where Kagome would be.

He saw some of the servants running around and tried to ask them where Kagome is but they either didn't know or they didn't answer all together and ran off. He then walked into the garden and saw Lady Yuki watering the flowers up ahead. Jogging up to her he met her smile and a smile of his own and asked where he could find her daughter.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha but I haven't seen Kagome for a while now." The black haired woman said, watering the lilies. "The last time I saw her was just after she talked with her father. She looked very upset."

"Oh." Was all Inuyasha could say to her answer. He started to feel awkward as Lady Yuki continued to water the flowers. "Do you mind if I stay with you for a while until she comes back?" He asked and he was answered with a yes and a very bright smile from the lady of the East. He stood a little ways away from the woman and watched her water the flowers. The scent of the plants and the sweet smelling flowers filled his nose and Inuyasha began to settle down as if a cloud of peace was hovering around him from the presence of the kind woman and the wonderful smelling flowers.

But suddenly the peace was destroyed when Lord Akio and Koga walked outside into the garden. Inuyasha spotted the two men before Yuki and when he saw Akio, he couldn't swallow a lump that formed in his throat. He then turned to Koga and narrowed his eyes. He had never seen him before but just the presence of the wolf demon he could tell that he was bad news.

As he entered the garden, he saw his wife talking to the Western scum, Lord Akio started to growl. How dare that Western trash enter his home and converse with his wife. Would no one listen to him; Inuyasha was dangerous. "Were is Kagome?" He barked as he stormed over to Inuyasha and his wife, stepping in front of Yuki as if to protect her from the white haired demon. "She has been gone for almost three hours now."

Lady Yuki was surprised, by the sudden outburst from her husband. She didn't even get a word in when he suddenly stormed in front of her, blocking her view from Inuyasha. She placed a soft yet firm hand on Akio's arm and stepped around. "She's probably just at the God Tree thinking." Silver eyes shown at the black haired man as she looked up at her husband. "I heard what happened. You knew that she didn't like Koga." She said, not even paying attention to the wolf demon who had been standing just a couple of steps away.

"But..." Lord Akio tried to get out but Kagome's mother wouldn't let him continue. She gave him a cold glare and walked right past him and went inside. Little did she know that was a big mistake. To leave Akio and Inuyasha alone. When the lady of the Eastern Lands was gone, Lord Akio immediately turned to Inuyasha with a deadly snarl. "Where is my daughter?" He barked.

Inuyasha took a step back seeing that is wasn't very safe to be so close to the lord. "I don't know where she is." He could see in Akio's silver eyes, an angry fire was burning and he wished he didn't have to face such an angry man but his conscience told him that he had to do this. "I don't know where she is." He repeated.

"Liar!" Lord Akio said furiously and raised a hand up in the air. He was so furious that he acted out in blind rage and took a swing at the white haired demon. His clawed hand hit the unsuspecting Inuyasha right in the face making the prince fall to the ground, holding his face.

o-o-o-o

Kagome had been so upset that all that crying and drained her energy and she ended up taking a nap up in the tree. When the princess awoke it was already around twilight and Inuyasha still hadn't showed up. A cold chill blew through the trees and Kagome shivered. Deciding that Inuyasha wasn't going to come, she headed back for home.

The walk back didn't take that long and when she got closer to the castle she decided to take the short cut through the garden to get inside. When she walked closer she could hear voices, when she stepped out of the trees she saw her father talking to Inuyasha.

_'Oh boy this can not be good at all.'_ Kagome thought as she stayed behind the tree for a minute to see what was going on. Her heart was pounding as she watched her father snarl and Inuyasha stand there, all alone.

o-o-o-o

The force of Akio's swing sent Inuyasha to his knees. Pain seared through his face as he grasped at his eye where he had been hit. The prince tried to look from his left eye but his vision was red. Red from blood. He looked down at his hand and saw that he wasn't badly bleeding but bad enough that he was forced to keep his wounded eye closed. He staggered up to his feet and looked at Kagome's father, breathing hard due to the attack.

His anger only grew as he watched the prince get to his feet. He turned to look at Koga for a moment, the wolf demon was just standing there looking off into the distance just beyond Inuyasha. Akio wondered what the wolf demon was looking at but the throught quickly passed as he turned back to the prince and snorted. "You asked once if you could live in my lands?" He stated, remembering when Inuyasha first came. "Well I have made up my mind... you are forever banned from his land."

o-o-o-o

She couldn't breathe. First, her father attacked Inuyasha! She couldn't see what damage her father had inflicted but she could smell the coppery scent of blood and she knew he was injured. Second, her father's words were so harsh and cold. Her father banished Inuyasha from the Eastern Lands? No... no this can't be happening. She wouldn't be able to see Inuyasha ever again? Just that thought alone made her lose her breath as if someone had winded her.

"NO!" She yelled and ran out from behind the trees and into the scene. All she cared about was Inuyasha. She ran over to the prince and stood in front of him, trying to protect him from her father, the best she could.

His daughter's voice caught Akio's attention and he watched in wide eyes as Kagome ran out of nowhere and stood between him and the prince. He was shocked that Kagome would throw her own life on the line to save the enemies'. "Kagome what the hell are you doing?" He yelled and then realized that this was the reason why Koga was staring off into the distance, he had known Kagome was there watching the entire thing.

"I won't let you kill him." Kagome glared up at her father as she spread her arms out to say that she wasn't going to let her father get anywhere near Inuyasha. Her heart was pounding so hard, her entire body pulsed at the rhythm of her heart's beating and she suddenly started to shake. She was afraid that her father was going to hurt Inuyasha more but she had to do whatever she could to stop this from happening.

Lady Yuki had just re-entered the garden when she saw what was going on. She saw her husband standing there, snarling while Inuyasha was still trying to recover his breathing and her daughter was standing between the two, tears streaming down her cheeks. What had happened while she was gone? She had only been gone for three minutes to get a bite to eat and when she comes out she finds that her husband had started a fight. She was angery more at herself, she should've known not to leave Akio alone.

Inuyasha, who had now regained control of his breathing, stood up straighter and sighed. The bleeding had stopped a little but there was a rather large gash that ran over his eye. He could see that everyone was upset, Akio was snarling, Koga was standing there shocked while Lady Yuki rushed into the scene and Kagome.. Kagome was crying. He was hurting Kagome. Even though she was unaware of what was really going on, he knew - he was hurting Kagome. This was all happening because of him. He had to tell them his secret and now was the only time to tell before something would happen to Kagome.

"He's working for his father to get to me." Her father yelled at Kagome. He didn't even realize his wife had come back into the garden. All he could focus on was that he daughter was on the enemie's side. Taisho's plan was working, he had won over Kagome.

"NO! I don't believe that." Kagome yelled back, shaking her head. She took a step back towards Inuyasha, her arms still spread out and fresh new tears streamed down her cheeks. She so scared.

Inuyasha sighed and took a step from behind Kagome to stand beside her. He saw that her shocked face turned to him and he placed a hand on her shoulder and then turned to face her father. He took a deep breath and looked up at Lord Akio. "It's true." He whispered hoarsely. Knowing that the truth was out in the air now he suddenly couldn't bare to look at anyone's reaction and looked down at his feet.

"W-What?" Kagome gasped. She could have sworn that her heart had stopped beating and she was going to die. How could this happen? Her father can't right about Inuyasha!

Inuyasha looked over at Kagome and tried to give her a smile, but it wouldn't show. He saw that hurt in Kagome's eyes and he knew that he had broken the trust she had with him. But he also knew that he couldn't keep the plan a secret any longer. He looked back at Lord Akio and repeated his message. "It's true. There was a plan." Again he heard Kagome gasp and choke back a sob and every time he heard her sniffle his heart ached more. This was all his fault.

"You bastard!" Lord Akio snarled. This was it! He can finally show is daughter and his wife that he was right about Inuyasha all along. He took a swing at the western prince a second time, this time his claws coming in contact with Inuyasha's shoulder. The blow sent Inuyasha to his knees again.

She watched as her father attacked Inuyasha but her body couldn't move. What was going on? Her father couldn't be right. She was too shocked of what she had just heard that she didn't help Inuyasha up. Her body wouldn't respond, her mind was blank. She just stood there, hands now at her side and she stared at Inuyasha, tears running down her cheeks.

Yuki could see how upset her daughter was and rushed over to Kagome and wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug. As a reaction to her mother Kagome buried her face in her mom's shoulder and began to cry harder.

Inuyasha gripped his now bleeding shoulder and tried to stand up. He wasn't going to give up yet. "It was my father's plan. I went along with it at first but I'm not apart of it any longer." He said to Lord Akio but he could see that the black haired man wasn't listening.

"You're lying!" Lord Akio yelled as he swung his arm again, this time punching Inuyasha right in the face. This attack sent Inuyasha tumbling back a few steps.

Inuyasha could now taste the coppery blood that trickled down the corner of his mouth. His shoulder was searing in pain, he still couldn't open his left eye and every time Kagome made a noise he felt his heart break. All the odds were against him, he was now alone more than ever but he couldn't give in. He kept trying to get through to Kagome's father. "I don't want to carry out the plan anymore." He yelled as the black haired lord attacked him again, cutting his other shoulder.

Lord Akio stopped for a minute, whipping the blood off his claws. He couldn't help but feel some sort of victory in the sight of the bloodied demon in front of him. He was right all along and that was all that mattered. "Why is that?" He asked as he looked down at Inuyasha with a smirk on his face. The once strong and proud prince of the west was on his knees in front of him, bloodied and beaten. "Why don't you want to continue with the plan?"

"Because..." He swallowed some blood and took a gasp for air. "Because I love Kagome." He said as his vision became blurry and he fell to the ground, too weak from blood loss.

Kagome's closed eyes shot open and she looked up from her mother's shoulder where she had buried her face to cry. She turned her head to look at Inuyasha and saw that he was looking up at her. He was bleeding from the two wounds from his shoulders and the one in his leg. And the cut on his eye was starting to swell. Though he looked horrible and her trust in his had been greatly wounded, Kagome couldn't help but look at him with loving eyes.

He watched as she looked down at him and he tried to show her a smile. "I love you Kagome." He whispered before he passed out.

"Inuyasha." Kagome whispered. She turned to her mother, fresh tears running down her cheeks. "I don't know if I should trust him now." Her heart ached for what she should do. What was the right thing to do? All those wonderful times with Inuyasha flashed in her mind as she remembered them. She had so much fun with him and she loved him so much but was this all part of the plan that he had been talking about? Were his feelings just acting?

"Listen to your heart and you'll find the answer. You know that he loves you." Lady Yuki smiled sadly and hugged her daughter closer. She looked down at the unconscious boy on the ground and then shot her gaze up to her husband. "Why did you do this? You broke Kagome's heart." She almost growled at her husband. As the Lady of the East she never would let her emotions get the better of her but this time her husband had gone too far.

"I knew that Inuyasha was using Kagome in the first place. He used her to get to me." Lord Akio said as he didn't even look at Yuki. He knew from the tone in her voice that his wife was upset with him and he only looked down at the unconscious boy in front of him.

"He loved her. He loved Kagome for her." Yuki pressed as she stood up for her daughter who was still crying in her arms.

"Because she is my daughter." And with that he walked away from the garden and left the three to the bleeding boy. He had enough of arguing with his wife, he didn't want this to carry on any more. As he left the garden he summoned two guards to take Inuyasha away.

Koga looked between Inuyasha, Lady Yuki and then to the weeping Kagome. He had to do something to make the poor girl stop crying. It broke his heart. He had watched the entire thing and could see how upset Kagome was. He walked over to the two women and placed a hand on Kagome's shoulder. He felt her body tense up as she knew who it was. "Kagome I'm so sorry you had to see that." He said as he looked down at Inuyasha. "It's almost disgusting to think that a demon like him would even think of playing around with your emotions." He almost spat at the image of Inuyasha as he talked.

Lady Yuki felt her daughter fist her hands and she stepped back, letting go of Kagome. She knew all too well that Kagome never liked Koga one bit and she also knew that Kagome had to let off a bit of steam from all that has been happening. And who else to take it out on that the one person Kagome hated the most. When Lady Yuki stepped back Koga took her place and wrapped her arms around Kagome and patted her back in a soothing gesture. He watched as the two soldiers came and took Inuyasha away. Probably to the dungeons.

"Kagome are you ok now?" He asked after he heard that Kagome had stopped sobbing. "That sorry excuse for a prince is finally gone, out of your life forever."

The said seventeen year old girl looked up at Koga. Her eyes were puffy from crying and she still had tears flowing down her cheeks. As she heard him talk she could practically feel the hate and venom from Koga's voice as he talked about Inuyasha. She had a lost look in her eyes but it soon faded away when she saw who was holding her. "K-Koga?" She whispered. Shaking her head, her expression turned to anger. "Get away from me!" She yelled, slapping him right in the face.

Even though Lady Yuki knew that Kagome was upset she couldn't help but widen her eyes at her daughter as she watched Kagome slap the wolf demon. The said wolf demon staggered back a few steps from the force of the slap. He reached a hand up to his wounded cheek and he looked up at Kagome with wide, shocked eyes. "W-Why are you doing this?" He asked.

Kagome growled and clenched her hands into fists. She couldn't take it anymore. She had so much going on inside of her that she was at the point of exploding. "Koga I hate you!" She yelled.

Ouch. Those words hurt way more than the slap. Koga looked at Kagome, all colour draining from his face. He never imagined that Kagome would get so angry before. He was about to say something when he was cut off.

Kagome didn't let Koga say a word for she knew that it would just make her even more mad - if the was possible. "Koga, I never liked you. EVER! You are a jerk, show off and a complete asshole!" She said angrily, tears building up again in her eyes. "I don't love you and never will. I love Inuyasha and there's nothing you could ever do to change that." She finished and walked right past him to her mother.

Those words stung more than any kind of poison Koga had been in contact with. Her eyes were more cold and lifeless than a winter's night. Her hate for him was more than he had ever seen before. Koga was stunned out of his mind at what had just happened. When she walked past him he looked up at her and saw that her eyes wouldn't even look at him.

When Kagome walked up to her, Lady Yuki placed a hand on her daughter's back and led her away from the garden. Koga stood there, frozen in spot. His head was bowed and his black bangs hid his eyes. No one saw it but a single tear ran down his cheek.

_'Kagome...'_


	11. Hurt

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 11: Hurt

o-o

When they left the garden and Koga behind, Lady Yuki led Kagome into the house when Kagome began to sob again. But then they realized that they had to hurry. They had to find Lord Akio and Inuyasha. Lady Yuki took her daughter's hand and led her down the halls to try and find the Lord. They had to find him before it was too late. They had to stop him from killing Inuyasha.

They ran through the entire castle and didn't see Kagome's father anywhere. They asked all the servants if they had seen Lord Akio but none of them did. They stopped in another garden to catch their breath. Night was starting to creep through the land as the sun began to dip beyond the horizon.

"Where the hell is he?" Kagome growled, placing her hands on her knees for balance. She didn't care about anything anymore, even keeping her fowl language to herself. She was mad and upset and she wanted to find her father now to yell at him.

Her mother was also panting as she tried to think of something that would help them. She looked around at the darkening sky and her eyes landed on something in the distance. She gasped and stood up straight. She knew where her husband was. "The hill." She said, almost to herself.

Kagome looked at her mother and titled her head to the side. "What did you say?"

Lady Yuki looked over at her daughter with wide eyes. "Your father has taken Inuyasha to the hill." She said.

Oh no not _that_ hill. The hill that overlooked the whole valley and that long ago when the Eastern castle was ruled by a different family, they would execute prisoners up there. When Kagome's great great grandfather started to rule here, he stopped that rule because there was no need for prisoners.

Knowing what that would possibly mean, Kagome jumped up and followed her mother who led them down the path that would take them to the hill that they were talking about. As she ran, Kagome could only think of Inuyasha. _'Please, please let Inuyasha still be alive when we get there.'_

o-o-o-o

Inuyasha awoke to see that he was in a dark, cold and lifeless room. He was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. He didn't have the life in him to lift up his head so he used his hearing to try and figure out where he was. Water dripped from the ceiling and he could hear rats scurrying around in the darkness. He concluded that he was in a dungeon of some sort.

"Kagome." He whispered and rested against the floor, not caring that his blood was around him. And even if he did care he didn't have the energy to move. His body ached but his heart ached more. He had no one to talk to anymore. He wanted to see Kagome so badly to tell her that he was sorry. "You must hate me now don't you?" He asked the air as he opened his good eye and looked around at his surroundings.

"I don't hate you Inuyasha." A voice said from behind him. That soft angelic voice rang through his ears and if he could move he imagined himself jump up in surprise.

Turning his head around and trying to ignore the pain, he saw that it was none other than Kagome. His dull golden eyes lit up a bit and she worked with the key to try and open the door. When she finally opening the door, she ran into the room, dropped to her knees and pulled Inuyasha's head onto her lap.

Her kimono was torn from running through the bushes and now sitting on the floor her kimono was getting soaked with blood. She didn't care about the blood that was on the floor, getting on her kimono. All she cared about was Inuyasha's safety. Tears fell down her cheeks again as she slowly ran her fingers through his long silver hair. "I'm so sorry Inuyasha." She sobbed.

Inuyasha opened his eyes and looked at her. Though she was covered in mud, cuts all over her face, hair messed up with random twigs and leaves and now her eyes were red, puffy and her cheeks were tear stained from crying - she was still beautiful. He lifted his hand up and placed it gently on her cheek, wiping away her tears. "Don't be sorry Kagome. I should be the one crying and saying sorry." He said, trying to get up. His muscles burned in protest to moving but he wanted to get up. He managed to sit up with the help of Kagome and he rested his sore back against the wall while Kagome sat next to him.

"I sorry I had to do this Kagome." He started, his golden eyes closing and a pained expression filled his face. But it wasn't because of the physical pain of his wounds but of the painful memories that flooded back to him. "Ever since I met you for the first time, all those years ago, my father started this training to make me tough and strong."

:.: Flashback :.:

"Come on son. Put you back into it." Lord Taisho yelled at his son as he watched from the outside of the ring.

Inuyasha gave another burst of strength into his arms and he managed to flip his opponent over his head and threw it against the other wall. His opponent happened to be a huge boar demon that had to have been at least three times bigger than Inuyasha.

"Great job Inuyasha but you're still too slow." His father said, throwing his twelve year old son a towel. His father's expression wasn't a pleased one. He wanted his son to be stronger, faster and more powerful and he would continue to push his son even to the brink of death. "Now get your mother to dress your wounds and we'll try again tomorrow."

Inuyasha, tired and bleeding, nodded as he followed Taisho back to his waiting and crying mother. He knew that he had to do anything for his father and to make his father happy though it broke his heart to watch his mother cry while she dressed his wounds. "Yes Father."

:.: End Flashback :.:

"I trained from the day I met you up until the day before the fire." He explained, looking down at his clawed hands. He heard an intake of breath and he knew that Kagome had clicked the information. He couldn't bear to look at her pained expression and looked down at the floor in front of him. Water from the leaking roof was mixing in with his blood making artistic swirls in the puddles until the red disappeared.

"You mean...?" He heard Kagome's whisper.

"Yes, the fire was my father's idea." Inuyasha sighed as he continued to look down at the floor, not wanting to meet Kagome's face; for it would break his heart. "At first I was following the plan to get close to you but after all the time we had spent together, I came to realize that I really and truly love you Kagome." He looked over at her hands, not daring to look into her eyes.

Kagome was quiet for a moment. Each second that rolled by seemed to be a minute, every minute was an hour, a lifetime. The pause was so great her ears started to ring. Inuyasha's heart sped up as he waited for some kind of answer. His heart almost stopped when he heard Kagome take a breath. Shivers went up and down his spine when he felt her hand rest on his. But he still wouldn't look her in the eye.

He almost died in disbelief when her other hand came up and turned his chin, making him look at her. He couldn't look into such a pure face for if he did he would be overcome with the grief of what he had done, so much so he wanted to kill himself to end everyone's pain. He saw that she was still crying although a bit lighter than before in the garden, only stray tears rolled down her rose cheeks. It broke his heart to see that he had made her upset. It was all his fault.

"I still don't hate you Inuyasha." Kagome said, sitting a bit closer to him. She tried her hardest not to let a sob choke out though the sobs were getting stuck in her throat, making it hurt. With one hand on his cheek and her other hand squeezed his hand, telling him that she was there for him. She looked deep into his golden eyes, almost like she was looking into his soul and she could see that he wasn't lying. She kept getting closer and closer to him, her lips just inches apart before they brushed against his lips.

Inuyasha got that feeling again - that feeling that he suddenly didn't have any painful wounds or an angry demon lord wishing for his death wish. He felt like all that mattered was Kagome. Closing his eyes he leaned closer into her lips, capturing them again and tuning the kiss into a fiery and passionate one.

After they parted, Kagome wrapped her arms gently around his neck and buried her face in his chest. Her tears returned as she realized that they still had to deal with her father. She was so scared - why couldn't she just be with Inuyasha and everything would be ok? Feeling Kagome's body start to tremble, Inuyasha wrapped his arms loosely around her waist, resting his chin on top of her head and he let out a sigh.

"What are we going to do?"

o-o-o-o

Kagome had split up from her not long after they had started to run to the hill. Her daughter said that she suddenly picked up on Inuyasha's scent and dashed off into a different direction. But she still headed for the hill, knowing who was up there. When she got up to the hill the sun was just touching the horizon, casting the land in a fiery orange glow. She saw her husband up on at the crown of the hill and she took a death breath, continuing her steps up to Akio.

Knowing who was behind him, Lord Akio began to turn around to speak to him wife. He was furious about the events that had unfolded and he was about to yell at Yuki for it but he was cut shot. When he turned to face her Lady Yuki took the opportunity and slapped her husband full across the face just as Kagome had done to Koga. His face was forced to the left from his wife's action and all words from him mind flew out, his mind drawing a blank.

"Why on earth are you doing this?" Lady Yuki growled as she pulled her hand into a fist to try and stop the stinging feeling. She didn't care about her hand, she cared about Kagome. "Kagome loves him and you will surely break her heart and soul if you kill Inuyasha." She glared up at him, her golden eyes fired in the setting sun.

"I have no other choice; he only used her to get to me." Lord Akio said, rubbing his cheek which was turning a bit red from the slap.

"No he's not. Didn't you hear him? He yelled out that he loves Kagome." Lady Yuki shook her head as she never dropped her glare. She wasn't going to sit back anymore. "You just can't see it because your sight is blurred by the hate for Taisho and now you're going to kill his son?"

Lord Akio stepped up closer to his wife and sighed. He could see the anger in Yuki's eyes as he took her hands gently in his, holding them close to his chest. "I just don't know what to do anymore." He said as he looked down at the ground, unable to meet Yuki's glare anymore.

Lady Yuki shook her head as she continued to study Akio's face. She growled as she felt tears coming - why couldn't her husband see that his actions were wrong? "If you kill Inuyasha, Kagome will have no life left - it will only cause more pain. How will killing Inuyasha solve anything?"

Lord Akio nodded in agreement to his wife, the first sign that he was actually listening to what was going on. But Lady Yuki could see that he was still troubled about what he should do as they both turned to look at the setting sun. A sun setting on a land of worry over their heads like a dark cloud.


	12. Punishment

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angle-With-Attitude

Chapter 12: Punishment

o-o

After the sun had set and night was falling over the land, Lord Akio and Lady Yuki headed down from the hill and back to the house to find Kagome and possibly Koga. After everyone had left the garden no one saw what happened to the wolf demon. During the sunset Kagome's mother managed to persuade Lord Akio to not kill Inuyasha. Although he was going to get a very bad punishment and Kagome wasn't going to like it.

But hey, it was better than getting killed.

Since Lord Akio knew where the soldiers took Inuyasha, they figured that Kagome was there also and they headed for the dungeons. While they walked their silent walk Lady Yuki could sense that her mate was still upset and also knew that they were going to the dungeons to take Inuyasha out to free him - they were going down there to sentence Inuyasha to his punishment. They had gotten to the foot of the stairs and they stopped dead in their tracks. Lady Yuki's face turned into a soft smile while Kagome's father's turned into a scowl.

There was Kagome and Inuyasha sleeping together in the cell. They looked so cute, Inuyasha's head on resting on Kagome's lap while her one arm laid loosely over his neck and her head rested against the wall. Though through the darkness and grey of the dungeons and the events around them, their love was still shinning.

Akio started to growl and though Lady Yuki tried to hold her husband back, she wasn't strong enough and he pushed right passed her. He threw the iron door open and marched right up to the sleeping could and ripped Inuyasha out of Kagome's lap. Inuyasha hit the floor with a heavy crash and his wounds screamed in pain as they were aggravated by the force of the throw.

Kagome's eyes suddenly snapped open to see Inuyasha be thrown halfway across the cell space. She let out a very loud gasp as she watched her father go over to the fallen silver haired demon and he picked Inuyasha up by the sleeves of his fire rat kimono.

"You little bastard. Leave my daughter alone." Lord Akio snarled, back-handing Inuyasha in the face.

Inuyasha was still weak from the amount of blood he had lost and that slap had reopened the one over his eye. He tried to speak but he couldn't get his mouth to form any kind of words to stop the lord of the Eastern lands. He struggled not to scream out in pain as Akio had a very firm grip on his wounded shoulders but he held it in.

"Father don't do this, please!" Kagome begged, getting onto her feet. Her heart began to speed up - though she figured it had never had a moment to actually calm down. She tried her hardest not to break down and cry - she had to be strong.

"Akio please listen to your own daughter!" Lady Yuki cried out from the entrance of the cell. She could see how much pain Kagome was in and she couldn't help but let tears slip down her cheeks.

Though he was in pain and he was staring death he knew what he felt - his love for Kagome was stronger than anything he head ever felt. Inuyasha opened his right eye, the only eye that would open due to the wound on his left eye, to look at Kagome and smiled weakly. "I still love you Kagome. I always will." He whispered and he watched as her body racked with sobs. He turned to her father with a smirk on his face. "Well, are you going to kill me?" He asked. He wasn't afraid of death, he deserved his punishment.

"Father no!" Kagome sodded as she took a step closer to her father, trying to stop Akio from hurting Inuyasha anymore. "Please stop." Her voice hiccuped as she let out a sob.

Inuyasha was using her, he knew it. His daughter was crying because she was pulled in my Inuyasha's act. It was all a lie. His sharp fangs were exposed as he raised another hand to hit Inuyasha again but he stopped in mid-swing, glaring into the prince's eyes. "No." He said sternly and let go of Inuyasha's haori. Since Inuyasha was still weak when Akio let go of him he fell to his knees. "I'm not going to kill you."

When Inuyasha fell Kagome rushed over to him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him close. Due to the blood loss of his wounds, Inuyasha was falling in and out of being consciousness so she shuck him to keep him awake. "Inuyasha." She sobbed. "Inuyasha stay with me."

Lord Akio snorted at the scene of her daughter crying over such a despicable person. "But!" He continued, raising his head high. "You will be banished from his land, forever." He snarled out his sentence. "Kagome you will _never_ see him again." He looked over at the blacked haired sobbing girl and turned back to Inuyasha. "If you _ever_ step foot in my lands again I _will_ kill you."

Lady Yuki rushed over to the two teenagers as Kagome glared up at her father. She couldn't take it anymore. She handed Inuyasha over to her mother who cradled him in her arms and she turned to her father. She stood on her feet and walked up to Akio. She only came up to the middle of his broad crest but she was told many times over that she got her attitude from him. She just glared at him though tears still ran down her cheeks.

Akio couldn't meet his daughter's glare and he turned his back to her. He was about to leave the cell room when he looked over his shoulder. "After this you won't see him ever again Kagome and that is a promise." He snarled at walked out, the two women in his life glaring after him as he left.

o-o-o-o

With some firm talking from Lady Yuki, Lord Akio agreed to give Inuyasha three days to rest. Kagome stayed with the silver haired demon the entire time, in his cell. Inuyasha mostly spent the time sleeping and resting to regain his strength. But when he was awake they would talk and tell each other how much they cared about one another and they would tell stories about growing up in the East and the West. They treated the time they had together as the last days on earth - for it was the last few days that they would ever be able to see each other.

It was the second day and Inuyasha started to eat again. His wounds were still healing and Kagome spent most of the time reapplying his bandages. Her heart was almost about to break, holding onto the tinniest shread of hope that they would see each other again but her father's words echoed in her mind, making her head ache even more. She just sat on the cold floor beside Inuyasha and played with his hair, running her fingers through the silky colour of his hair while telling Inuyasha stories about her childhood.

It was sunset when Lady Yuki came down to the dungeons to check on the two teenagers. "How are you two doing?" She asked as she sat down beside her daughter, wrapping her one arm around her daughter. "Are you alright?"

Kagome just looked down at Inuyasha. The silver haired demon was now sleeping, his head laying on Kagome's lap and his breathing was deep but uneven. "Yeah I'm ok." Kagome whispered, scared that if she talked too loud she would wake Inuyasha. "But Inuyasha is running a fever again." She explained as she rested her hand against his forehead and feeling the hot temperature against his skin.

Lady Yuki was quiet for a moment, chewing lightly on the inside of her lip as she tried to gain enough courage to talk. "This was never supposed to happen." She started as she looked down at Inuyasha, running her fingers lightly down his cheek. "When you two were born, we four leaders arranged a marriage between you two. But ever since your grandfather died, we were at war and you two never saw each other like you were supposed to. But it seems that you won over us and you did fall in love with each other." She said, placing her hand on Inuyasha's cheek. "I just wish it didn't have to be like this."

Kagome was quiet, letting all this new information soak in. They were supposed to get married? If there was no argument, she and Inuyasha were going to be arranged to be married? "I guess fate has a funny way with playing with our lives." She half laughed thought she couldn't hold back a few tears.

Inuyasha stirred awake and slowly opened his golden eyes. The gash on his eye that Akio had given him healed over during the first day but it had left a nasty jagged scar over his left eye. His golden eyes focused on Kagome above him. "K-Kagome?" He asked hoarsely as he looked around him.

At the sound of Inuyasha's voice the princess looked down at the man she loved and smiled down at him, happy that the fever hadn't kept him unconscious for long. "How are you feeling?" She asked, resting her hand over his forehead again to check for the fever.

"C-Can you help me sit up." He whispered out as he tried to sit up. Lady Yuki and Kagome both helped Inuyasha sit up, careful of his wounded shoulders. They moved over to the wall and Inuyasha rested his back against the cool wall and Kagome moved under his arm to keep him from falling over. Silence filled the environment as Lady Yuki decided that it was time to leave for now. Before she got up to her feet she leaned over to the two teenagers and gave her daughter a light kiss on her forehead and then turned to Inuyasha and placed a hand on his cheek again. "Take care dear, be strong." She whispered as she got up to her feet. "I will be back with some blankets and some food."

Since Lord Akio agreed to give Inuyasha three days to rest Kagome refused to leave the silver haired demon and she never left his side. Though Akio had argued with her on the first day Kagome was stubborn and didn't listen to her father. As Lady Yuki said goodbye she headed to the castle to prepare some blankets and meals for the teenagers. After climbing the stairs up to the surface she drew a shaky breath and wiped away a few tears.

When she got back to the royal house she went to her private room that she used for her training and practice her priestess powers. She sat down at the desk and took out a feathered pen and continued to write the letter she had started writing yesterday. When she was done writing the letter she rolled it up and called her messenger. Her messenger was a phoenix, a fire bird that she had gotten from her mother as a gift. "Korra please take this to Lady Izayoi. She deserves to know what is happening to her son."

The said red and orange fire bird nodded intelligently and took the letter in her clawed talons and flapped her wings, taking off out the window and into the blue skies towards the Western Lands.

o-o-o-o

Meanwhile in the Western Lands Lady Izayoi was wondering about the royal house until she found her way into the garden. Her long silver hair shined in the sunlight as a gentle breeze blew random strands around. She took a seat on the bench beside the cherry tree and opened the book to the page she was reading. She then realized that she had never read so much in her life but it was the only way she could possibly take her mind off of the events of her family. All in all it wasn't working that well for a couple minutes after opening the book she closed it, unable to get into the words.

She sat under the tree, letting out sighs here and there until she heard a familiar cry from and sky. When she looked up she saw an old friend flutter down to her with a message in her claws. "Korra," Izayoi greeted the phoenix as Korra landed on the bench beside her. "What do you have for me?" She asked as she took the letter from the bird. "A letter from Yuki?" She unrolled the letter and read the first couple lines and let out a gasp. "Inuyasha is in danger?" She repeated from the letter.

_Dearest Izayoi,_

_I hope you remember your old friend, it's me Yuki. It has been a very long time since we have been able to talk with each other and I miss you dearly. I wish I could have been able to write to you sooner but events have stopped me and I am truly sorry. But I am writing to you because I know that it is the right thing to do, you deserve to know about your son's health._

_It has been a while now since Inuyasha had saved Kagome from that horrible fire. He had asked us permission to stay in our lands but Akio wouldn't allow it. After much talking, Inuyasha was able to stay in the East. _

_After time past, I saw that Kagome and Inuyasha were getting closer and closer by the day. They were perfect with each other, you should have seen them. Kagome would wake up early each morning to begin her training with your son and they spent the entire day together. It is now clear from what had happened a few days ago that they really love each other._

_It seems that fate had a play in this. Something happened two days ago and Inuyasha revealed that there was a plan that he had been playing a part of to get to Kagome and attack our lands from the inside. Akio was outraged when hearing this information and he attacked Inuyasha._

_Your son and our daughter are currently together in the dungeon cell, tending to Inuyasha's wounds. I figure that Inuyasha will recover but his punishment for this action was going to be death. But I talked to Akio and he had agreed to only banish him from out lands. Inuyasha has one more day before he is cast out of our lands._

_We must do something to stop this. Please don't show this to Taisho as we both know that he would surely start a war. I beg for your forgiveness. I always knew that our children would fall in love but I wish it didn't have to be like this._

_Please write back and we can make up a plan to stop our husbands from ruining our children's love for each other._

_Lady Yuki of the Eastern Lands_

The letter, the words were almost unbelievable. After reading the letter she hurried into the house, Korra following after her and she went into her private room. She sat down and her desk and grabbed a feathered pen and started writing a reply on another piece of paper. When she was done she gave the paper back to Korra and watched the fire bird fly back to the East. As she watched Korra fly away a tear fell down her cheek.

_'Inuyasha's in trouble...' _Yuki's words echoed in her head as she decided what she should do.

She turned and left her room and hurried down the hallways until she found Taisho in his study. She didn't let him say anything and informed him that she was going for a walk. When he questioned if she wanted an escort on her walk she shook her head no and hurried out. The Western Lord looked up from his scroll and watched his wife head out in a hurry. "What's up with her all of a sudden?" He asked Myouga who was sitting on his desk. All the little flea demon could do was shrug as Taisho's gaze stayed where his wife had hurried out.

When she was walking down the halls she turned down every offer for an escort and she sprinted out of the garden and down through the gates of the Western walls and into the valley. She raced through the knee-high grass, holding her many layers of kimono as to not trip over her feet. Looking up, she saw Lady Yuki standing up on the hill beside the trunk of the Goshinboku. When the silver haired lady got up there, it was clear that there was an atmosphere of uneasiness as the two women exchanged hellos.

"How's Inuyasha?" Lady Izayoi asked, her golden eyes shining in the sunlight as she looked around for a moment to see if anyone had followed her.

"I just went to check on them and he seems to be ok. But he has a fever right now." Lady Yuki said, stepping closer to the white haired lady in front of her. She could see that Izayoi was worried about her son's health.

"This is all Taisho's fault. He wanted Inuyasha to play along with his little plan and look what has happened." Inuyasha's mother said, tears welling up in her eyes. She had never showed her emotions, always holding it inside but now that she was face to face with Yuki, her long best friend from so long ago - not able to see her in several years - she couldn't help but let it out.

Lady Yuki nodded sadly, understanding how Izayoi was feeling and she closed the gap between the two and placed a hand on the silver haired woman, trying to comfort her as best as she could. The wind picked up, blowing both of their hair, jet black and silvery white around them as the two women comforted each other about the events of their stubborn husbands and their children in love.


	13. Banishment

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 13: Banishment

o-o

Things were getting weird. With his wife gone in a hurry, Lord Taisho was starting to wonder what was going on. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Inuyasha since Kikyo had come Inuyasha had ran off. His son never knew, but Taisho had always sent a spy soldier to watch over his son and report to him about his son's actions but the spy had lost track of him when Inuyasha had dashed off and now no one knew where he was. Well they knew where he was, in the East but he hadn't been seen for a couple days now and Taisho was getting worried.

After his business with Myouga, Taisho left his room and wandered down the halls, trying to sort out what was going on. When he came to Izayoi's room and slowly entered. When he saw that she wasn't in he walked around and then noticed that there was something on her desk. He walked over to the desk and picked up the piece of paper and started to read the script on the letter.

His golden eyes hardened as he reread the characters over again. "What? Inuyasha's in trouble?" Lord Taisho asked out load as he read over again, not believing the words. "That bastard Akio, what has he done this time?" The white haired man snarled as he crumbled the piece of paper and ran out of the room.

His anger grew with every step as he marched down the hallways. Inuyasha was in trouble and he blamed Akio. Everything was always Akio's fault. He called his soldiers together with an angry snarl and no one wasted time in assembling in front of the lord. With hard golden eyes Taisho announced their new plan of action; War. They were going to settle this once and for all. He turned to his generals and the plan was to attack in a couple of days.

In a couple of days. But the generals caught the plan and questioned the future of the prince. By then, Inuyasha would be cast out of the East and it would be the perfect time to attack. Fury blocked out any thoughts except for his angry plan but Taisho forgot to realize that he would arrive too late and no one would know where Inuyasha would be or if he would still be alive by then.

But Taisho just shrugged it off. This time Akio had gone too far. They would have to make do. They would attack at sun set in three days and when the West rules victorious, they would begin the search of the lost prince. Of course he cared about his son but this attack would be in Inuyasha's honor.

"This one is fool proof." Lord Taisho said, taking out his sword and admiring at the gleam in the setting sun.

o-o-o-o

It was now the morning of the third and final day and Kagome was starting to worry about Inuyasha's health. She had stayed up all night trying to fight back the fever but she was unsuccessful in breaking it. Inuyasha's forehead burned to the touch and his breathing was shallow and uneven.

He still hadn't woken up yet since he had fallen back asleep after Lady Yuki last left and Kagome stayed close to him waiting for him to wake up. As he slept, she stayed up just in case something happened. She continued to try and talk him out of his nightmares as he twitched and murmured in his sleep and she couldn't help but feel so helpless as he struggled through his illness.

The princess ringed out the wet cloth and placed it back on Inuyasha's forehead and sighed. She knew that she shouldn't be too worried, with the demon blood in his veins he should recover in a couple days but she couldn't help but be concerned for the fever. His wounds were almost all healed saved for the scar of his eye. He hadn't been able to stay awake after Lady Yuki had last visited and after a while into the night he had fallen into his fever sleep.

Kagome had her back against the wall with Inuyasha's head on her lap. She ran her fingers over his face, etching every detail of his beautiful face in her mind for she didn't know when -or if- she would ever be able to see him again. That thought only broke her already shattered heart.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she felt the boy by her shift. When she looked down at Inuyasha she was met with molten honey eyes and she let out the breath that she never noticed she was holding in. Inuyasha had finally woken up from his fever. She looked down at him, her silver eyes shinning with the tears that threatened to fall. She locked eyes with him and a smile couldn't help but stretch across her tired face as he gave her his trademark smirk.

"It's the third day isn't it?" He asked up to her as he blinked slowly, the scar over his eye burned as it continued to heal.

"Yeah." Kagome whispered, unable to talk normal volume for the fear of her voice breaking. She reached her hand down and brushed her fingers over his silver snow bangs, and smiled down at her love and he closed his eyes, loving the feel of her with him.

With great effort, Inuyasha managed to get up and sit on his own beside her. His fever caused him to sway a bit with a very painful rush to his head but he wanted to hold her in his arms. He looked down at her and slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her close, breathing in her sweet scent. When Kagome pulled away to look up at him he tried to give her another smile but it wouldn't fool anyone. They knew that it was judgement day - the last day.

Kagome tired to hold back her sobs but it was too hard. She broke down in tears and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. She sobbed as she could feel the black shadow of despair fall over her again. She felt Inuyasha wrap his arms around her and he hugged her back.

"I'm sorry this had to happen Kagome." He whispered into her ear, burying his nose in the crook of her neck. He didn't want to let go of her, he wanted to hold her in his arms forever, not matter what would happen. Well he tried that already and look where it landed him - almost being killed and now being thrown out of the Eastern lands.

They both pulled away at the same time and caught each other in a passionate kiss. They intertwined their hands together and they felt like they couldn't let go of each other for the fear of losing one another. Their kiss was full of emotion, full of love and they didn't know when Kagome's father was going to come and tear them apart.

"Whatever happens after this Kagome, I know that we'll be together again." Inuyasha whispered into her hair when they pulled apart. "No matter what happens." He repeated.

o-o-o-o

"It's the third day." Lord Akio announced as he, Lady Yuki and three soldiers marched through the hall. His hand never left his sword's handle as he almost jogged down the hallways. The faster he walked, the sooner he could rip Inuyasha out of their lives.

"Akio, please reconsider what you're doing." Lady Yuki begged as she placed a hand on her husband's arm. After the talk with Inuyasha's mother last night, they couldn't come up with anything to stop their husbands. It was a very frightening realization but both Yuki and Izayoi couldn't just stand back and let this happen. Lady Yuki couldn't give up.

As they arrived at the cell Lady Yuki watched as her husband took out the key to open the door. She was furious that Akio had actually locked the door with their daughter in the cell, like a criminal. And Inuyasha wasn't a criminal but Akio wouldn't listen. She watched as the black haired lord entered the cell and he looked down at the two teenagers who waited for what was going to happen next.

A very uneasy silence filled the room as father and daughter locked gazes. Kagome looked right back at him, straight in the eye and not letting his hard gaze faultier her spirit as Inuyasha sitting beside her with his hand holding her's.

When Lord Akio saw that their hands clasped together he let out a growl. Clearing his throat, he gained the attention of everyone and breaking the silence. "It's time."

Kagome could feel tears coming but she had to be strong. But she questioned how much strength she had left with what she had been going through. She watched the two soldiers come forward and her lip pulled back in a snarl which made the soldiers fault in their steps. But a more fierce snarl from the Lord of the East told them that he was the one to listen to and they approached the prince and princess.

They each grabbed Inuyasha and pulled him up to his feet. The teenagers tried to keep their hands together but the soldiers pulled them apart. Kagome got to her feet and tried to follow but the third soldier blocked her way for a moment until she pushed past him. Lady Yuki met her daughter at the entrance of the cell to help her walk since her daughter was very weak. Her once beautiful green kimono was stained with dirt and blood. Her hair was a mess and her once gleaming silver eyes looked dull and grey.

They followed Lord Akio and the soldiers out of the dungeons, Kagome shooting off her mouth in fowl language to her father, trying to scream at him to let Inuyasha go. But her voice was also weak and it kept cutting in and out. They followed the men up to the hill, all the while Inuyasha trying to get out of the solder's grip by thrashing around but it was no use.

They stopped at the hill and Lord Akio took his stance as the high and mighty lord in the appearance of everyone else in the kingdom. If he wasn't going to kill Inuyasha up here, he would surely declare the banishment up on the hill for all to see. They arrived at the hill where everyone in the kingdom was standing below to watch. Kagome could spot some of her friends and their families down there - she was torn between heartwarming that her friends were there and bitter anger that they weren't by her side.

When they got up at the top of the hill, Lord Akio raised his hands to the sky to make everyone stop talking. Kagome's heart started to thud loudly as she could feel her body start to tremble in her mother's arms. "It is now declared I have made my decision of the fate of this Western Prince. I cannot believe that I actually allowed you anywhere close to my lands and I am here today to set the rules clear. As the third day's sun sets I declare that the Western Prince Inuyasha is now banished from our lands of the East." The crowd yelled out different things. Some agreeing and little were arguing.

Kagome couldn't take it anymore and she ran out of her mother's arms up to her father to try and stop what was going on. She could hear the yelling and couldn't pick through the cries of anger from the words begging to change the declaration. She was almost up to Inuyasha but two soldiers held her back. She cried out as she tried to wiggle out of their grip but it was no use. They had a strong hold on her and she wouldn't be able to save Inuyasha. "No... let... me... GO!" She yelled as she lost control of her tears.

Inuyasha, who was being held by two other soldiers looked back and met eyes with Kagome. His molten yellow eyes seemed to be saying a silent goodbye as he watched her struggle. He tried again to free his arms but he was getting tried and weak again from the still loom of his fever. They were so close to each other but too far away. He actually managed to pull away for a moment and he dashed to Kagome and captured her lips in one final kiss. He kissed her with all he had left in him for he knew it would be the last time they would see each other.

He almost got away but the soldiers pulled them apart as Lord Akio walked up to the two. "You are never to step foot on this land." He began as he glared down with stone cold silver eyes. Kagome couldn't hold back her tears anymore as her father finished the banishment announcement. "Never _ever_ again."

That was it. It was over. Inuyasha was now banished from the East - forever. Kagome watched helplessly as her father grabbed by the torn sleeves of his haori and threw him on the ground in front of the royal family.

"Now, get out." Was all Lord Akio said as he watched Inuyasha scramble to his feet. He didn't let Inuyasha say anything as he let out a fearsome snarl.

With one more look at Kagome, his eyes locking with her eyes one final time. He was about to say something when Akio took a step in front of Kagome, blocking Inuyasha's last look at the princess. Another snarl sent Inuyasha the message and he scrambled to his feet and dashed down the hill. His injuries had opened again slightly and he limped down by the people of the kingdom, getting hit by rocks that people threw at him.

"NO!" Kagome screamed with all her heart as she watched Inuyasha dash off into the forest.

After Inuyasha had disappeared, the soldiers loosened up their grip on Kagome but still wouldn't let her go. Lord Akio and Lady Yuki stood at the top of the hill and watched Inuyasha take off to who knows where. Lord Akio's face was an expression of glory while Lady Yuki was holding back tears.

"No!" Kagome screamed and elbowed the one soldier in the stomach and kicked the other one in the leg. With their grip on her loosened she dashed up to her father and started pounding on his chest with all the strength she had left, yelling at him that she hated him.

"Kagome!" He yelled and grabbed her by the arms but she continued to cry out in anger so he had to raise his voice above her. "You must stop this now! He never loved you, it was all just one big trick to play with your heart to get to me."

Kagome shook her head violently. She didn't believe her father, she could never believe her father. "No! Inuyasha loves me. He told me over and over that he loves me." She cried out as she couldn't move, her arms pinned to her sides by her father's strong hands. "Bring him back now dammit!"

"Don't swear at me, girl." He yelled and set her back down on the ground where her legs gave out and she stumbled to the ground on her knees. He gave her one last stern look and then turned away, heading back to the castle. But what no one saw was that when he was walking back he gave his head a sad shake and rested his forehead in the palm of his hand. _'I'm sorry.. Kagome...'_ His mind thought as he hated to see his daughter so upset but he knew he was right.

Kagome's body raked with uncontrollable sobs and she cried for Inuyasha to come back to her. She missed his protective hugs that would make her feel so safe. She missed them so much that she could die. She missed his soft lips that would brush over hers in a passionate kiss. She missed him so much and he had only just left a couple minutes ago. She knew from this moment that she loved him with all her being and that she couldn't live without him - but he was gone... gone... gone out of her life... forever...

Lady Yuki watched helplessly as her daughter sat there, pounding the ground until her hands bled and cried her eyes out. She couldn't do anything to help Kagome get Inuyasha back. She watched her daughter scream out to the world in painful sobs as her heart broke, wanting Inuyasha to come back to her. All she could do was watch and hope that Kagome wouldn't do anything rash for it seemed that in just a little amount of time, Kagome was going to lose her mind.

_How could all of this have happen?_ The wind seemed to ask sadly as it blew across the darkening land, playing with the jet black hair of both women.


	14. Heartbroken

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 14: Heartbroken

o-o

The dark cloud of despair clouded over the lands and understood the pain that Princess Kagome was going through. The moon was blocked from view as the clouds formed in the blue-black sky, turning grey. Then the clouds opened and it started to rain, but not just the average summer rain. It was like the heavens were crying with Kagome and it started to pour across the lands, the sky was crying for the two lovers' pain.

When it started to rain Lady Yuki managed to get Kagome inside before she caught a cold, but her daughter would not stop crying. The Lady of the East led her daughter to her bedroom where Kagome blindly found her bed and buried her face in her pillow and continued to sob her broken heart away.

She was broken. Her heart and soul were shattered as her father yelled out to the entire Eastern people that Inuyasha was forever banished from her lands.

She would never see Inuyasha again.

The black dog eared woman slowly walked over to Kagome and sat down beside her, placing a hand on her back, almost flinching every time her daughter's body was racked with a violent sob. But like any mother, Yuki stayed by her daughter's side and quietly hummed a lullaby she had sung to Kagome when she was younger.

When Kagome had quieted down a little, she tried to speak to her daughter. "Kagome, sweetie, it's time for supper." She quietly whispered as she leaned over to see if there was going to be any kind of reaction from her daughter.

Kagome lifted her head up slowly from her pillow and looked up at her mother. Her eyes were dull, dead grey and it seemed like there was no life whatsoever left in the girl. Her cheeks were wet from all the tears she had shed and her face was flushed red from lack of oxygen from her violent crying. Lady Yuki could tell that she wasn't done crying as Kagome continued to hiccup and choke of more sobs as they fought their way up to the surface.

"I don't feel like eating." Kagome whispered but even her whispers were choked out and her voice was broken.

The mother-daughter silence was suddenly broken when Lord Akio entered the room without knocking. Lady Yuki shot her head up to meet her husband's gaze while Kagome's reaction was a little more slow - almost zombie like. Kagome's first reaction was it could possibly be one of her friends coming to comfort her but when she saw it was her father, her face grew more dead and she hid back in her pillow trying to take deep, slow breaths to calm her sobs down.

"It's supper time." Her father announced, not knowing Yuki had just told their daughter.

"I know." Kagome murmured from in the pillow, not wanting to look up at the man that was at the center of her anger at the moment.

"You're coming." He said and it wasn't a question. But it was more like a command, and order.

It was like he didn't care about her at all. Kagome's nails dug into the pillow as she whipped her head up to face her father. "No I'm not!" She growled as her grey eyes sent a furious glare his way. "I'm not going to sit down at the same table as you. I don't even want to be in the same room as you." Her eyebrows knitted together as she sat up and continued to glare at the man before her.

"Kagome you're going to get sick if you don't eat." Her mother said softly. She knew that during the last three days in the cell with Inuyasha her daughter didn't even touch anything from the meals that she brought. Her voice was slow and very quiet; like she was scared she would break Kagome if she spoke too loud.

"I'm already sick." The dog eared girl said, not taking her eyes off her father. "I'm sick with heartache. No thanks to you... _father_." She said the last part with such a venomous tint in her voice it made her mother shiver uncontrollably for a moment.

One of his black eyebrows rose at the sight of his daughter as she continued to glower at him. He had had enough! Growling at his daughter, he took a step towards her. "That boy was just tricking you Kagome. You must understand that what I did today was for your safety." He tried to explain, his arms out to try and motion he wanted to give her a hug.

Kagome saw this action was pulled back, not wanting to be anywhere near her father. "Inuyasha would never hurt me." Kagome said, her voice still shaking.

"Oh really? Look at yourself Kagome, look what he's done to you."

"No Dad, you're wrong. _You_ are the one who is hurting me." She shot back with the venomness lick in her voice again.

The black haired man could only sigh, not able to come up with anything to say. For once his daughter had actually silenced him for he had realized that she was right, he was hurting her today. But it was Inuyasha's fault for everything. "I'm sorry Kagome. But one day you'll understand."

A deep growl came from Kagome's chest as her eyes, though still grey without life burned with added anger from what he just said. "Why do you always say that? 'One day you'll understand Kagome'. I'm not a kid anymore." She yelled, throwing her pillow down on the ground. "Get out!" She screamed with all the breath in her lungs.

Lord Akio's eyes widened and took a step closer to his daughter, reaching a hand out to try and touch her but she screamed at him again. He was about to say something but his wife stopped him. He looked down at her and she shook her head and turned him to the door. They both slowly walked to the door and left the room, praying that their daughter wouldn't have a complete melt down.

o-o-o-o

The clouds were heavy and the rain poured steadily from the sky, the crying skies as the teenaged boy ran through the trees. Dark green of the leaves and the soaked brown of the bark flashed by in a blur as he continued to run and run, not caring where he ended up. He didn't know where he was going but he had to get out of there, out of this valley for he knew neither the East nor the West would accept him.

His eyes were squinted to keep the rain from his eyes but that didn't stop from blurring his vision. He didn't see the fallen log ahead and tripped over it so hard that he fell roughly on his face into the wet grass. He slowly sat up and glowered over at the log, like he was blaming the dead tree for his accident. He was about to get up to his feet but he tumbled back down to the ground. He growled down angrily as he saw that he had twisted his ankle.

The silver haired boy looked up at the crying sky, almost wanting to cry himself. He was never going to be able to see his love again, to see Kagome again. His life was over, what point was there to live without Kagome? He wanted to cry, to let his emotions flow like the water down the river but with the tough training his father had put him through made him unable to cry. But he so wanted to, he wanted to cry out his pain so badly.

But he couldn't help it anymore - he couldn't keep his emotions inside himself anymore. He looked up at the sky, not caring how wet he was getting in the pour. He took a deep yet shaking breath and cried out, "KAGOME!" He yelled up into the sky and as he yelled his lover's name, lightning lit up the sky and thunder rumbled through the lands.

When all the breath was out of his lungs, Inuyasha lowered her head slowly, his bangs covering his hard gold eyes. He used a nearby tree to pull himself and he hopped to his feet and began to limp over to a shady tree that would give him some protection from the rain. He rested his head against the tree trunk and let out a slow and sad sigh.

o-o-o-o

Back at the Eastern lands, sobs continued to come from Kagome's locked room. After her parents had left, she ran over to her door and blocked the door so that no one would ever bother her. She had then ran back to her bed and cried her heart out into her already damp pillow. Many servants had come to her door and asked if she needed anything but the broken princess just told them to go away.

Her room was dark; Kagome didn't care about turning on any lights. Lightning suddenly lit up her dark room, making everything seem to glow with a bluish white light. Kagome looked up at the window and chocked back a sob. An idea formed in her head. She got up from her bed and opened up the window. Before she climbed out the window, she took one last look at her door, almost praying that Inuyasha would suddenly burst through it and grab her into a warm and protective hug.

But he... he didn't come. Inuyasha didn't come through her door to wrap her in a protective hug and take all her pain away. The only thing that wrapped around her was the cold breeze that moved through the window. "Goodbye Mom." She whispered as her black hair blew around her face. "Goodbye... Dad." She whispered with a painful expression as she jumped out of the window and onto the porch below. Without a look back she ran through the garden and jumped over the palace walls towards the God Tree.

As she ran through the garden, memories of her and Inuyasha flashed through her mind, making her remember all the fun times she had with Inuyasha during the past month. Tears mixed in with the rain as Kagome jumped through the field to get away from her father. She didn't care where she was going just as long as she was away from that man that caused her pain. She still loved him but right now she was heartbroken from Inuyasha leaving and her father was the reason for why Inuyasha was gone.

After she jumped the walls she stopped for a moment and took a slow and sad look back to her family before tearing her eyes away and dashing into the valley. She didn't care about the rain as she ran through the knee high grass, not caring that the thick blades were cutting up her legs. She found herself at the Goshinboku and jumped into the tree. She sat on her favourite branch, the very same branch that she and Inuyasha sat up on all those night to watch the stars.

:.: Flashback :.:

It was another peaceful, a night that their troubles didn't loom over them. A clear and silent night as the couple sat up in the ancient God Tree. They were sitting up in their favourite branch and looking up at all the different stars. They sat up in the green leaves of the tree, holding each other close. Both of Inuyasha's arms were around Kagome's waist while the princess' head was resting on his chest, feeling his chest move up and down with every breath.

"It's so nice outside." Kagome said, breaking the silence that was going on for almost an hour. She let out a sigh in contemptment as she melted more into Inuyasha's arms and a bigger smile formed on her lips as she felt Inuyasha's chuckle ripple through his body.

"Yeah." Inuyasha sighed as he couldn't think about anywhere else he wanted to be. He felt so at peace, for the first time in a long long time. He looked down at Kagome who was wrapped in his arms and watched as she looked up at him. Their eyes connected and both of them couldn't help but smile even bigger at each other.

Kagome turned around in his arms to face him. She looked deep into his golden eyes and her lips got closer to his. She was in some kind of trance as her eyes closed when her lips caught Inuyasha's in a soft kiss.

Inuyasha's arms tightened around Kagome's waist, pulling her closer and turning the soft kiss into a fiery and passionate one. When he stopped, they parted and Kagome stared into his eyes. Inuyasha took one hand and traced her cheek, loving the feel of her soft skin underneath his fingers.

:.: End Flashback :.:

Thinking about those memories that she shared with Inuyasha made her cry even harder. As every tear fell she felt herself fall into a pit of darkness - there was nothing for her anymore if she couldn't be with Inuyasha. She brought her knees up to her chest to try and keep herself warm from the cool wind that swept the valley.

"Inuyasha." She sobbed.

o-o-o-o

Meanwhile back in the Western castle, a little demon, servant to the Lord ran through the hallways of the main house to find his master. He found Lord Taisho in his study and bowed in respect before entering. "Excuse me my Lord but my men have located the Princess." He whispered as he kept his eyes on the floor.

"Wonderful!" Inuyasha's father said, as he got up from his chair and walked over to the window, a grin of victory on his face as his golden eyes gleamed.

Lightning lit up the dark sky and thunder made the ground rumble. For a split second when the lightning hit and lit up the area, Taisho saw someone sitting up in the God Tree in the middle of the valley. Though it was only a split second that the valley was lit up he could instantly pick out that the someone in the tree was in fact Kagome.

Smirking, Taisho left the room and walked into another to grab his sword. Calling two troops, the three of them set out in the rain, heading towards the old tree. He was going to get her this time and this time he had to take matters into his own hands.

Sitting on a bench in the hallway, trying to read a book the silver haired Lady looked up when she heard thudding coming her way. When she looked up she watched as her husband and two men walk down the hallway, right past her. But when he walked by her Izayoi saw that he had his sword in hand and knew this wasn't going to be good. She followed him out into the courtyard as he continued on into the valley. All she could do was sigh as she heard the thunder rumble overhead.

o-o-o-o

There was a break in the downpour of rain and Inuyasha took the opportunity to make a run for a different shelter other than the tree that he had been resting under for a while. His wounds still stung every time he moved but he had to ignore it. He had to get somewhere, anywhere so he would be out of the rain. His first thought was that he should try and go home, back to the West.

But then his second thought was that he might run into his father. His body gave an uncontrollable shudder at the thought of what might happen if he ran into his father and told him that the plan wasn't going to work out anymore. He kept to running in the forest so no one would be able to see him. He headed west, towards his old home. Maybe his mother would be able to help him.

Jumping over fallen trees and dodging big rocks, he was cut all over by low branches that he had run into. His wounds screamed for his body to stop moving but he couldn't listen. He had to get home. His left eye, still freshly healing, stung from the rain and sweat that trickled down his face and he was getting so tried. But he had to carry on. He had to keep reminding himself that he had to get home.

o-o-o-o

She was so wound up in her tears and sorrows that she didn't think about anything else. She didn't _want_ to pay attention to anything else, she just wanted to sit up in the tree and cry her pain away. But a sudden rustling in the grass caused Kagome to snap back into reality.

She was so tired and so heartbroken. But mostly right now she was so tired for she hadn't slept in four days and it was catching up with her and crying so hard had taken away the rest of her energy and she had fallen into a nightmarish dream. But the rustling caused her to snap awake. She opened her eyes in search to find the source of the sound. Her heart sped up - maybe it was Inuyasha. Maybe he had finally come to find her.

But suddenly something grabbed her by the ankle and yanked her out of the tree. She tried to twist her body around to catch a branch but she was too tired for her reflexes to respond. When she was being pulled down, her head hit a branch and everything went black as she was knocked out and fell into someone's arms.

That someone happened to be Lord Taisho who had snuck up on her. His sword was snapped to his side with his soldiers standing a couple of feet away watching him and on the lookout. As he caught the princess in his arms another smirk appeared on his lips and he carried the unconscious Kagome back to the West Kingdom as thunder rumbled overhead yet again.

He looked down at the girl for a second, studied the princess in his arms. She was beautiful but with the pained expression on her face he couldn't help but snarl and look away. From the branch smacking her in the head hard Kagome had a deep gash on her forehead where blood was running down the side of her face, the pained expression as the unconsciousness had dragged her into another nightmare, this one she couldn't escape.

"Well that was easier than I expected it to go." Lord Taisho looked over his shoulder at the two soldiers with a smirk on his face. His soldiers looked at him and nodded, the same smirk was on their face as they saw that their Lord was pleased. Taisho let out a little chuckle as he looked down at the sleeping girl again. "Sleep tight little princess." He said as the three men headed to the West.


	15. Kidnapped

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 15: Kidnapped

o-o

Three hours had passed and Kagome still hadn't come out of her room. Lord Akio was starting to get mad. Oh well he was already mad the second he had found out that his daughter had run away but enough was enough and he wasn't listening to his wife anymore. He was angry. He was furious. And he was in a mood where he tends to break things. As she watched her husband go through his mood she had no choice but to make a list of new things that they were going to have to get.

Smash! - - - Need new dishes.

Crack! - - - Need a new dresser.

Boom! - - - Sigh, need a new door.

As the trashing continued Lady Yuki looked out the window to see the raging storm outside. At first when they found out that their daughter was gone she had told her husband that she would be back soon and that she just needed to sort out her feelings but that was two hours ago and she was starting to get worried. And the storm outside didn't settle her worried nerves one bit. But Kagome wasn't the only one she was worried about for she was also wondering what happened to Inuyasha.

"Kagome where are you?" She whispered to herself as a small tear ran down her cheek as the rain continued to pelt against the window pane.

Rip! Crack! - - - "Akio! That was our bed!"

o-o-o-o

When Kagome woke up, the first thing that her body registered was that her head felt like it was going to spilt open. The second thing she registered was that she wasn't in the God Tree. She looked around, her eyes burning as she had to adjust to the lighting but when she did she saw that she was in a room. She tried to move her arms and her legs but couldn't. Though her pounding head protested she looked around and saw that she was tired up in a chair. She then tried to scream for help but it only came out as a mumble for her mouth was gagged.

She looked around the room again and saw a tall man standing in front of her. She wasn't expecting to see someone and when she saw the man she let out a gasp and she felt her heart start to speed up. But looking more carefully she noticed that she knew him from ten years ago. She had only seen him once before but after a moment to think about it she noticed that the man in front of her was Inuyasha's father, Lord Taisho. She tried to say something; anything but it was no use with the gag in her mouth.

"What was that princess? I didn't hear you." The white haired demon demon said, kneeling down in front of her to get a better look at the black haired girl. He had such a strong powerful voice and just hearing him say that, made her heart beat faster.

Suddenly her eyebrows furrowed together as Kagome stubbornness came alive. She wasn't going to let some man keep her captive, even if he was the Western Lord. The black haired princess tried to wiggle around in the chair to try and get out but the ropes were too tightly tied and the more she moved the tighter the ropes seemed to twist around her wrists, rubbing rope burn on her skin.

After she stopped wiggling around for the rope burn was getting too much, Taisho lifted a hand up and untied the rope that was around her mouth. He could see that she had fire in her eyes and her angry expression made him smirk.

Licking her dry lips, Kagome looked up at the man. "What am I doing here?" She demanded as she tried to move around again but the burns on her wrist were only getting worse and it forced to her stop.

"You are in the Western lands, my girl." Lord Taisho said, cupping her cheek and then narrowed his eyes angrily. "Where is my son?" He growled.

"I don't know where Inuyasha is." Kagome said. "My father had banished him from our lands this morning and I don't know where he is anymore." She told him honestly for she couldn't think of anything to say. Those golden eyes of Taisho's reminded her of Inuyasha's eyes. Those eyes melted her heart no matter how hard she tried to stay strong.

"You lie, you little bitch!" Inuyasha's father growled louder, slapping Kagome across the cheek.

Kagome cried in pain as his claws cut her skin, leaving four cuts down her right cheek. Her head was forced to the left from the impact of the slap. She turned her head back to the white haired lord, breathing hard. "I don't know where he is." She repeated as she tried to fight back the tears. "I'm not lying!" Kagome yelled, keeping her head to the left, not wanting to see the man in the face. She was forced to look at him when he grabbed her chin and yanked her face towards him.

"Where is he?" Lord Taisho demanded again, glaring into her eyes.

Kagome was shaking now. His face was close to hers and his breath tickled her face. "I-I told you that I don't k-know where he is." She whispered. "I swear." His eyes were the most torture. Those golden eyes melted her the more she was forced to look into them. Although they were angry and she knew Inuyasha would never look at her that way she couldn't help but look into his father's eyes and think about Inuyasha.

Golden eyes glared at her for a minute and then Taisho stood up and backed away for a moment, still staring at her. "You have until tomorrow to tell me or you will die." His nerves were getting short and he didn't have time to waste on this princess.

Kagome's eyes widened in horror and she tried to wiggle through the ropes again, trying to ignore the burns. "I told you already. I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS!" She cried as she lost the fight and the tears streamed down her cheeks. "Please let me go." She begged as she tried to pull harder on the ropes but it was no use and the ropes cut even more, making her cry out in pain.

But the Western Lord didn't pay her any attention and with that he left the room, left to leave Kagome alone to cry.

o-o-o-o

Inuyasha ran as hard as he could, ignoring the intense pain of his muscles, the protests of his body. The rain had started up and now it was pouring even harder. So hard that it felt like the rain droplets were cutting his skin.

"I have to get home." He said to himself as he dodged yet another fallen tree. But his footing was weak from his injuries and his ankle caught on the tree and fell to the ground. "Kagome, I hope you can forgive me." His whispered as he tried to get up to get home.

o-o-o-o

She heard sobbing in the room that her husband had just come out of. The sobs that she heard were that of a heartbroken girl, she knew. Then she saw her husband walk around the corner towards her. Studying his face she saw that he wouldn't look at her and just keep his eyes down at the ground. She gave a very angry growl and ran over to him and asked what he had done to the girl that was being held captive.

"She wouldn't tell." Was all the white haired man said as he kept his eyes down at the ground. He knew from all these years of being with her and being in love with her that she didn't get mad that often, next to nothing compared to his own temper but he knew that when she got angry, the entire kingdom would cower running.

"What did you do to her?" The dog eared woman asked again as calmly as she could muster but her eyes flared with anger. She hated to hear such a girl cry in pain like what she was hearing right now. It broke her own heart and she knew it was all because of her husband.

"I slapped her."

o-o-o-o

Kagome couldn't stop crying, her heart was broken to the point of no repair even if she wanted to. But she didn't. She had given up on life and now that she was being held captive she was sure there was nothing left of her life. Her head was lulled to the side and tears flowed down like a waterfall.

_'I'm so weak.'_ She cursed herself for crying so much.

But this week was so hard to get through. First, Inuyasha is almost killed by her own father and she spent three days in a cell with the man she loved, waiting for him to be banished. Waiting and counting down the days before she would never see him again. And now she is prisoner to Inuyasha's father? What more could possibly go wrong?

She cursed out loud for crying so much and promised to herself that she wouldn't cry ever again for it shows weakness. As she was promising herself, a lady walked into the room. Kagome looked over to see who it was but found that she could concentrate on focusing on the lady that was coming closer to her.

Blood trickled down her neck from the cuts on her cheeks and the gash on her head was still bleeding badly. She was losing too much blood and she was becoming lightheaded. "Inuyasha..." Was the last thing she murmured before she fell unconscious again.


	16. War

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 16: War

o-o

The rain didn't let up; the heart of the storm was passing over the valley and its two kingdoms. Lightning clashed through the skies and the thunder demons were playing through the clouds. At least that was the bedtime story that his mother used to tell him. The rain continued to pelt down in sheets as thunder and lightning rocked the valley. Inuyasha could see the lights of the feudal castle up ahead, telling him that he was almost there. He was almost home

o-o-o-o

She didn't know how long it was since she had fallen asleep but when she awoke, she found that she wasn't roped to the chair anymore. Instead, she was lying in a bed on the floor. Looking down at herself, she saw that she was wearing a different kimono. Her wrists where bandaged up but she could see the red tint for below the white telling her that the burns had cut into her flesh.

"Where am I?" She asked, not wanting an answer. She didn't care where she was; well honestly she wanted the answer to be that she was dead for she didn't want to be alive anymore. For being alive was just to suffer without Inuyasha.

Just then the shoji doors behind her opened and she turned her head around to see that there was a lady, around the same age as her mother walking in through the door. The white haired lady walked over to Kagome and pulled a cushion up and sat down beside the princess's bed.

"I'm so sorry for what has happened to you." She said in a soft voice as she helped Kagome sit up and handed her a bowl of rice to eat.

Taking the bowl, Kagome looked at the women. She studied her for a moment and couldn't get over how beautiful she was and she looked so young. But she knew that there was something about the woman sitting before her. "Have I met you before?"

A soft smile appeared on the Lady's lips as she nodded gently. Lady Izayoi already knew who this girl sitting in front of her was, the Princess Kagome, for she noted how much she looked like her mother. She took a moment to notice how much she had grown since those ten years ago when they met in the valley. "I am Lady Izayoi, Inuyasha's mother." She introduced.

Kagome's mouth formed an 'O' shape as she looked over the woman in front of her. How could she not have figured that this was Inuyasha's mother? There were some similarities between mother and son; white dog ears, the white hair of course but there was a kind look in the lady's eyes. Whereas Izayoi had the kind, motherly look in her eyes, Inuyasha's molten amber eyes still had a kind look, kinder than what his father had shown her. "Lady Izayoi." She bowed in respect. "What am I doing here?" She asked as she looked around the room.

Kagome watched as the white dog ears atop of Izayoi's head drooped and her eyes were saddened for a moment before her eyes landed on Kagome's wrists and went to work rebandaging the wounds. "My husband captured you and brought you to the West Kingdom." She explained as she unwrapped the old bandages to show fresh rope burns on Kagome's fair skin. "He wants to know where Inuyasha is."

That name, as soon as Lady Izayoi spoke her son's name it brought on a fresh wave of tears to Kagome's eyes but the princess tried to force down the sobs. "I-I don't know where he is." She shook her head as a hiccup escaped from her lips. "My F-father..."

But Lady Izayoi cut the girl off by nodding slowly and placing a hand on Kagome's shoulder. She could see that the girl was still torn up about what happened and she didn't want to put Kagome through the pain of reliving the event. "I know all about it." She said softly. "Your mother had written me a letter explaining all about what was going on."

The room went quiet; both females fell silent as the only sound was from the rumbles of thunder and the soft sniffles from the princess. Kagome looked down at the bowl of rice in her hands. Her body told her that she was hungry for she hadn't eaten anything solid for the last couple of days but she felt as though she wouldn't be able to keep it down, her stomach felt sick. She couldn't think of anything to say to the Lady in front of her so she stayed quiet, she just watched Inuyasha's mother take care of her wounds.

The silence was broken by a sudden loud knock on the rice paper doors that were on the other side of the room which led to the outside porch. The knock was so unexpected that it made both Kagome and Izayoi jump in surprise. Lady Izayoi looked at Kagome then back at the door. Without saying a word, the white haired woman got up to her feet and slowly slid the door open. When she saw who was at the door she let out a gasp and fell to her knees and hovered over the body at the doors.

Kagome heard Lady Izayoi gasp and craned her neck to see who was at the door, her curiosity getting the better of her. She couldn't see who it was but when she watched Lady Izayoi move out of the way as she was helping the person up, the princess let a strong sharp gasp and her heart almost stopped. Fresh tears collected in her eyes and fell down her cheeks.

It was Inuyasha.

He was standing right there, his one arm slung around his mother's shoulder for support. His head was lolled to the side but Kagome could see that his chest was rising and falling hard and fast as he was trying to catch his breath. His bangs were hung over his face so she couldn't see his eyes but then again she couldn't see anything that well to begin with for her tears were blurring her vision. He was soaked to the bone, his haori was ripped and torn and he was all bloody from his deep wounds.

"I-Inuyasha!" Kagome found her voice and cried out, though her throat was sore from crying so much that it came out more as a squeak. She just couldn't believe her eyes; Inuyasha was there, right in front of her!

White dog ears on top of the boy's head perked up at the sound of that voice. He knew that voice anywhere. Inuyasha lifted his head and saw Kagome sitting up in the bed on the floor. He looked over at his mother with wide eyes and he watched her slowly nod her head and let go of him so he was standing on his own feet. Forgetting all about his wounds and how they stung, or how tired he was Inuyasha dashed over to Kagome. He fell down to his knees and pulled Kagome into a kiss, wrapping his arms around her.

The sight of her son and Kagome together brought a bright smile to Lady Izayoi's face. She looked around and came up with the excuse that she needed to get more bandages and left the room so that the two could be alone together for a while. She closed the shoji doors quietly and left them alone.

As much as she wanted to kiss him again and again, Kagome was running out breath and had to pull away from his lips. But when she pulled away she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Oh Inuyasha, I thought I was never going to see you again." She cried as she pulled away and kissed him again as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her tighter, scared that if he were to let go of her she was going to disappear. "I thought so too." He said, resting in the crook of her neck and breathing in her scent that he loved so much.

They held onto each other, both afraid that the other was going to suddenly disappear. The only sounds were the thunder still outside, Kagome's sniffles and Inuyasha's hard breathing as he was still trying to recover his lungs. Kagome watched as Inuyasha pulled back a bit and cupped her cheek but he quickly took his hand away when she winced in pain.

Inuyasha looked closer and saw that there were four healing scratches on her cheek. He looked her over for a moment; she was dressed in one of Lady Izayoi's old kimonos, had four gashes on her cheek, bandages on her wrists and a wrap on her forehead. "H-How did you get here?" He asked again as he leaned in to give her another short kiss on the lips.

Just when her son had asked the question, Lady Izayoi had returned into the room carrying a box of ointment and fresh bandages. She had heard the question was answered for Kagome who was still shaken up. "Your father captured her and brought her here for questioning." She said, as she watched her son for she knew he was going to get mad at the answer.

Inuyasha looked up at his mother who had answered his question and then back at Kagome who had fallen silent. He slowly reached a hand up and placed it on her injured cheek. Kagome winced at the pain again but neither pulled away as Inuyasha ran his clawed fingers down her jaw line. "Did my father do this to you?" He asked as he then placed his hand up on her gasped forehead.

The room was quiet at Inuyasha's question but both Kagome and Lady Izayoi nodded slowly, both their eyes looked at the floor for they knew Inuyasha wasn't happy. Their knowledge of the demon being mad was confirmed when they heard Inuyasha growl. But the thing that made the females gasp next was the sound that followed. The sound of shoji doors being opened. Both Kagome and Izayoi turned to see the white haired man standing in the doorway.

The atmosphere in the room became thick as everyone held their breath. Kagome and Izayoi's hearts were pounding hard as they glanced before father and son, waiting for something to happen, someone to say something - anything. Kagome looked down at Inuyasha as her hands were placed on his biceps as his arms were still wrapped around her waist. She was about to say something to Inuyasha when he suddenly wrapped his arms around her tighter. Her eyes widened when she felt him shaking.

As he walked into the room the first person he was his wife. He was about to say something to Izayoi, ask her why she was in Kagome's room when he looked over at where the princess was. And that was when he saw him - his son. When Lord Taisho saw his son, he froze in spot with wide golden eyes. "I-Inuyasha?"

Her heart pounded as she watched Inuyasha bite his lip and the said demon prince look up at his father with a set frown on his face. He let go of Kagome and stood up, facing his father with his hands clenched in a fist. When he let go of Kagome Lady Izayoi took his place in holding the shaking Kagome.

"What did you do to Kagome?" Inuyasha growled at the taller man. He was almost as tall as his father, reaching up to his shoulder. Both men looked at each other, golden eyes colliding with golden eyes, hair both white as snow.

"She wouldn't tell me where you were." Lord Taisho said simply with a side glace over to the raven haired girl.

"She had no idea where I was. Not even I knew where I was." Inuyasha growled, stepping into the glace of his father so that Taisho wouldn't be able to see Kagome. "You hurt her." His growled deepened in his throat at the thought of Kagome hurt.

"She banished you from her lands." Taisho growled back, both son and father showed their fangs to each other.

Inuyasha shook his head and took a step closer to his father. "Her father did that. She was trying to defend me."

Kagome watched the two men talk and started to shake with fear. Lady Izayoi could sense that Kagome was scared and hugged her closer to her chest. Kagome felt as though her own mother was hugging her. She had the same gentleness and her scent was almost the same as Lady Yuki's. But not even being hugged by Izayoi could stop her pounding heart as she was scared what the two men were going to do.

o-o-o-o

Meanwhile in the Eastern Kingdom, Lady Yuki's list of broken items had now reached the ground and Lord Akio couldn't find anything else to break. Moments earlier, Akio's soldiers had come up to the Lady and told her that they had searched the entire Eastern Kingdom and couldn't find Princess Kagome anywhere.

"Where the hell is she!" She heard her husband yell in the other room.

"I don't know." Lady Yuki answered as she excused the soldiers from the room. She didn't want anyone else to get caught in Akio's wrath. But with the information that she had gained from the soldiers she now knew that Kagome was truly missing.

It had been almost all night since they had last seen their daughter and all the people in the kingdom had heard the word of the missing princess. Soldiers were sent out every minute to look under every inch of the Eastern lands to find her.

But as Lady Yuki had suspected, her daughter wasn't in the East anymore.

As she sat on the bench and watched the rain fall she couldn't help but let out a troubled sigh. "Where are you Kagome?" She whispered to herself as another crack of thunder rippled through the clouds. "I hope you and Inuyasha are safe."

But suddenly her thoughts were interrupted when Lord Akio marched right by his wife, yelling in a fury. "This is all that bastard's son's fault. Taisho will pay for this!" He hollered, marching into another room to call his soldiers together.

It was quiet for a moment as Lady Yuki raised an eyebrow in wonder of what her husband was doing. "We attack the West right now!" She heard her husband cry. Her silver eyes widened in fear as her hand dropped her book and jumped up. She rushed into the room that her husband and gone into, trying to get to Akio before something horrible happened.

o-o-o-o

Taisho was furious. His golden eyes set in a deep glare at everyone in the room as he snarled and growled. His son, Inuyasha, had just told him that he didn't want to carry on with the plan. When asked why, his son gave the answer that he had fallen in love with Kagome - the daughter of the enemy had stolen his son's heart.

When he had ask about his son's feelings for Kikyo, Inuyasha had taken a step back and shook his head hard as well as yell that she was a bitch and he hated her. Well, Taisho got the answer and knew that there was no future between his son and the cat demon priestess.

That was when the room when quiet. No one dared to breathe as Taisho seethed with anger. But wasn't this supposed to be good news? Inuyasha had fallen in love with Kagome just as they had planned seventeen years ago. But things had changed didn't they?

Lord Taisho took a deep breath and sighed and when he did so, everyone caught their breath. "Inuyasha if you have fallen in love with Kagome, then…" He trailed off for a moment to think through what he was about to say. Everyone continued to hold their breath as their eyes stayed on the Lord of the West. "Then... I am a fool for not seeing it in the first place." He sighed and his face softened.

Kagome continued to hide in Izayoi's arms and when she looked up, her eyes were connected with Taisho's. But this time his eyes weren't full of anger but they were soft and warm, like Inuyasha's eyes. As she looked up at Lord Taisho, the Lord of the West smiled down at the princess.

The room was still quiet for a moment as no one believed their ears. Taisho was agreeing with his son? The atmosphere softened as everyone took a huge breath of relief. The room was filled with smiles as they heard what Inuyasha's father had said. Taisho had finally seen the error of his ways and was going to put an end to all of this. The war was going to finally end.

Inuyasha went up to his father who put a firm hand on his shoulder and the two smiled at each other. The Western prince turned away from his father and walked over to Kagome and wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. While the two teens hugged Izayoi walked over to Taisho and smiled up at him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

The war was finally going to end.

o-o-o-o

Her heart was pounding to the rhythm of her footsteps thudding against the wooden floor as she ran into the room where Akio had gone into. When she threw the door open she saw the last of the soldiers leaving through another door and she followed after them into the field in front of the main house. Sliding the door open she saw hundreds of troops had gathered outside in the pouring rain. "Akio don't do this. Please!" She tried to call out to him but it was no use.

Lord Akio had already changed - transformed into his giant dog demon form. Massive black paws, almost crushing his own army, thick black fur covered his huge body. Silver stripes down his cheeks shown in the rain as silver eyes glimmered with rage. Akio lifted his giant dog head to the cry heavens and let out a howl that meant war.

o-o-o-o

The room in the Western main house was filled with happiness as Taisho finally understood his son's love for Kagome. The room was filled with smiles as Taisho and Izayoi watched as Inuyasha proposed to Kagome. The prince and princess of the valleys were finally going to be able to be together as Inuyasha got down on one knee and asked Kagome if she would be his mate.

The raven haired princess couldn't believe what was going on. Her cheeks rosied as she couldn't help but smile, her lips not used to smiling for so much and for so long for her face hadn't seen a smile for days. Her silver eyes were sparkling with tears, tears of happiness that she hadn't cried in such a long time. She of course said yes she and Inuyasha shared a loving hug and passionate kiss before the four decided that it was time to head to the East.

They all had smiles on their faces as they were about to leave when a piercing howl ripped through the air, louder than any thunder. Glass shattered in the background. Kagome had the rice bowl in her hand and when she heard the howl, her body froze and the bowl slipped out of her hand. The only thing her body registered was that Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her more as his own blood turned chilled as they listened to the war howl tear through the main house and echo in their ears.

Kagome turned around in Inuyasha's arms to his parents. "My father is coming." She could feel her happiness drain away and the emptiness was coming back to swallow her back up. Just when she thought everything was going to be ok, the world spins around and everything shatters.

As they ran outside to the valley in front of the main house, Taisho was quick to react as he too, like Kagome's father, transformed into his true form. Thick snow white fur that covered his whole massive body glowed in the moon light. Glowing golden eyes shown with determination, as he lifted his head to the skies to return a message saying that the lands were at peace.

But what was the reply going to be? Inuyasha, Kagome and Lady Izayoi waited at Taisho's feet, their hearts pounding as they waited for an answer. What was it going to say? Was the war going to be over or was Kagome's father too mad to stop now?


	17. Fight

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 17: Fight

o-o

As the thunder continued to rumble and the lightning danced in the sky, giant black ears perked up to the skies, listening to the message that was being returned from the West. A deep growl came from deep in Lord Akio's chest that sounded more like thunder itself to his army below. "Peace? He wants peace?" He growled, looking down at his army waiting at his paws.

"Akio you must stop this!" Lady Yuki yelled up at her husband but he didn't hear her, for her voice was lost in the strong wind. That was it; she had had enough of this. Every time she would try to talk to her husband, to show him the error of his ways her voice fell on deaf ears. Her face turned from her normal peacefulness to an angry expression. "Akio!" She yelled and she started to glow a bright blue.

Thick black fur covered her body and she grew into a massive sized dog, almost as tall as her husband. Silver-blue eyes gleamed in the moon light as she growled at Akio. Her giant dog ears pinned back to her skull as she barred her fangs at her husband. Her dog demon form wasn't as large as her husband's, only coming up to Akio's shoulder blade as well as having a slender frame and smaller paws.

"Akio stop this at once." She growled, showing her pearly sharp teeth. The wind whirled around them, moaning in their ears and the lightning seemed brighter since they were closer to the clouds.

"Yuki?" The giant black dog Lord asked as his silver eyes widened. He was shocked to see that his normally peaceful wife would bare her fangs at him. But then again, his daughter Kagome had to get her attitude from someone and he was sure it had to do with both of their tempers. But before he could say anything else, his wife turned away from him and made a dash into the valley, towards the Western lands.

"Yuki!" He howled, trying to get his wife back. But it was too late; she wasn't going to listen to him anymore.

o-o-o-o

When she would be in her normal form the waist high grass and long rolling hills would have slowed her down, taking more than an hour to get to the other side, to the West. But when in her dog form she had no problems bounding over the rolling lands. As she ran through the valley, Lady Yuki stopped at the Goshinboku to see if her daughter was still in its branches. When she saw that she wasn't, she gave a dog like sigh and continued on to the West.

She looked in the direction of where she was running and suddenly saw the giant shadowed frame of Lord Taisho. He was also in his giant dog form, his long furry ears waving in the strong wind. He seemed to be waiting for her as his silver white fur glowed in the moon light.

As she got closer she wondered to herself that Kagome must be with Izayoi and Taisho. Her heart leap at the thought of seeing her daughter again for she had been so worried about her safety but she was sure now that she was ok, especially since Taisho had tried to declare peace between the lands.

But if she knew her husband and that she did, she knew that she was running out of time. Everyone was running out of time and she had to get to the Western Lord and Lady and talk it over with them to try and stop Akio and the Eastern lands, stop them before they declared war. For then, she worried; if Akio declared war it would take a miracle to turn his mind around.

o-o-o-o

Back in the Western lands, all four demons had now been changed into their dog demon forms when they saw the approach of Lady Yuki from in the valley. Lady Izayoi was the second to change after her husband and just like Taisho was silvery white and had grown to the height of her husband's shoulder blade. Inuyasha and Kagome had also changed into their dog forms, Kagome the size of Lady Izayoi and her mother and Inuyasha towering over them by just a little, almost the size of his father.

When they had changed, Inuyasha, now in his huge dog form, came up to stand on the other side of his father while his mother was at his left. He watched, golden eyes gleaming as Kagome, the woman who he loved so much and who agreed to be his mate, come up to stand beside him. He was so happy, even in the event of a possible war he couldn't be any happier than this moment for he loved Kagome so much and now, if and when they ended this stupid war, they could finally be married and be together.

"Are you ok?" Inuyasha asked, not needing to move his giant dog jaw to speak. He looked down at Kagome and lightly nuzzled her cheek which had started to bleed a little from the slap that his father had given her. He knew that it wasn't that serious and that her jet black fur hid the blood well but he couldn't help but be concerned. He was also not just concerned about her slight wound but the fact that she wouldn't stop shaking.

Kagome, who was also in her dog form, noticed that Inuyasha was looking at her. Turning her head, she locked eyes with her love and gave him a doggy smile. She, like her mother and father, was covered in thick black fur with silver shining eyes. At the sound of his voice, Kagome's ears perked up and gave Inuyasha a questioning look but when he nuzzled her cheek she knew what he was talking about and gave him another dog smile. "I'll fine, don't worry about me." She said as she looked out into the valley and then spotter her mother running up to them.

When she began to get closer to the four other dog demons, Lady Yuki stopped running and slowly walked up to them. She bowed her head slightly to Lord Taisho and Lady Izayoi and waited until they bowed back before walking any closer. When she was a little ways away from them, she saw down and gave another sigh. Her eyes looked over at Inuyasha and gave him a friendly smile before she turned to her daughter.

Kagome completely forgotten about the bowing in respect and paw by paw walked closer to her mother until her mother's eyes landed on her. When she heard her mother speak out her name she bounded up to her mother and nuzzled Yuki's neck in a dog-like hug. "Are you ok?" She heard her mother ask before pulling away.

"Yes Mom, I'm ok." Kagome answered with a smile up to her mother and then turned to look over her shoulder and gave Inuyasha a smile as well. But the smile suddenly faded as reality hit her like a bucket of ice cold water. She whimpered her head around to her mother with a gasp so hard that is almost forced her heart into her throat. "What about father?" She asked, her eyes displaying a very worried look.

When she heard her daughter's question Lady Yuki gave another sigh and bowed her head in defeat. "I'm afraid that I couldn't get through to him." She said and turned to Inuyasha's father, silver eyes locking with molten gold. "He's coming with all his able men in an attack." She informed.

"I see." Taisho said in thought as he fell silent for a moment, the wind continued to whip past them; the invisible force playing around with their fur. "Well, we have no choice but to have an aggressive negotiation." He said and with that he transformed back into his human-like form and drew out his sword that was on his back. Aggressive negotiations were just a fancy term for negotiations with a sword. He didn't want to fight with Akio anymore since he had seen his clouded judgment but if it was the only way, he would have to do it. The blade was long and straight with a purple ball on the end of the handle.

Everyone else followed suit and changed back into their human like forms. Taisho then turned to one of the nearby soldiers that was on guard in the garden and told him to assemble the rest of the troops. With just minutes to wait until his army was assembled, Lord Taisho turned to his son; silently asking is Inuyasha was going to help in his fight.

The silver haired dog demon prince gave his father a nod with a set determined expression on his face. His father nodded back and then turned to discuss some things with the two women. While his father was talking with Izayoi and Yuki, Inuyasha turned to Kagome. "I'm going to go with my father to try and stop this war." He said, cupping her one cheek gently. "I'll be right back." He said and then captured her lips in his in a passionate kiss which ended too soon for both of their liking.

"I know you have to go." Kagome said, trying her hardest to form a smile on her face but she could feel the empty feeling creeping back to swallow her up. She kissed him again and leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling Inuyasha wrap his arms around her waist. She tried her hardest to etch every moment in her mind for her heart doubted if he was going to come back - this was war after all. "Be safe." She whispered into his shoulder as she felt new tears prick at her eyes.

"I will." He said as he kissed the top of her head. He pulled back a bit and looked deep into her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too." Kagome said as she looked into his eyes. She broke the stare when she wrapped her arms around his neck, again trying to etch every feeling of being in his arms.

"Inuyasha," Lord Taisho said quietly as if he was scared that the two would be startled from his voice. But at the sound of his voice, the two broke out from their hug and he could see the pained expression in both of their eyes. "It's time." He said.

"I know." The western princes answered his father and then turned back to Kagome. "I'll be ok, I promise." He gave her one last kiss and then turned to follow after his father, drawing the show that was at his side and ran off to catch up with Lord Taisho.

When Inuyasha left, both Lady Izayoi and Lady Yuki came up to Kagome and watched as the men went off with the Western army off into the valley. Kagome couldn't hold her balance anymore and she fell to her knees as she watched Inuyasha walk off, into battle. Against her own father. Tears fell from her eyes as she swallowed down a sob. "Inuyasha." She whispered as lightning danced through the skies.

o-o-o-o

As lightning forked out through the sky in a natural wonder that was both awed at and feared, followed by the thunder rumbled that rocked through your very soul, the two armies met in the middle of the valleys. At the lead of each army were the Lords of each land, allowing the strong wind to whip through their hair that was pulled back into ponytails.

A snarl rippled through his chest as he bore his fangs. "Looks like you didn't want peace in the first place." Kagome's father said, tightening his grip on his sword's handle. "If you wanted peace, you wouldn't have your sword drawn for battle." The black haired dog lord growled as he saw Taisho's sword at hand, the same for his son.

As Akio continued to snarl Taisho let out a soft sigh in disappointment. When did things get so ugly between the lands? It was the only question that his mind could ask right now and at the moment he had no clue to an answer. "I'm only here with my sword to try and talk this war through with you." The Western Lord tried to keep calm.

Akio was seething in anger as he laid eyes on the Western Prince "So you've rejoined your father in the West. Where is my daughter?" Akio snarled as his silver eyes flashed in anger.

"Kagome is with Izayoi and Yuki." Taisho said, keeping his back to the castle. He had to keep reminding himself that even though he didn't want to fight against his old friend Akio, he certainly on the other hand wasn't going to leave his Kingdom wide open for war. He would try and stop this useless war without it escalating too much farther than it had already gotten.

As a natural cycle of life, night was beginning to fade into the morning. The sun started to rise from the East as the storm died away into nothing but the clouds still lingered around, making the ground cooler than the sky. Fog started to rise in the valley, covering the environment in a smoky grey mist.

Again, the black haired dog demon was drawn to the prince and a deep growl came from his chest. "You!" He said, pointing a finger at Inuyasha as his eyes glimmered in anger. "You bastard! You were working with your father this whole time!" He swept his arm out in a demonstrative way. "I was right the entire time, I told everyone that you were filth and no one believed me. Well I guess they were wrong weren't they?"

"Enough!" Inuyasha yelled from the other side of the valley by his father. With resent events, he had hope on his side but this taunting from the Lord of the East was pissing him off and he dared to show his fangs to Lord Akio. "That's not the point anymore. We've come to talk to you about this damn war. So shut up and let us explain." The dog eared prince growled as he gripped his sword tighter.

But Inuyasha's snarl did nothing to the Lord of the East and Akio sneered at the Prince with a half laugh. "I won't fall for this anymore!" The Eastern Lord yelled as he raised his sword up to the sky. But this move wasn't just for show for seconds later thunder was heard but this time it wasn't from nature; it was from the beast locked away in Akio's weapon.

A growl-like sigh came from Lord Taisho as he turned to his soldiers and ordered his men to stand back - way back. When the golden eyed Lord turned back to his enemy, the clouds were gathering overhead once more as the power of Akio's sword grew in power. He was using Phoenix Rage, a deadly attack that was formed in the image of the menacing bird of the underworld in whose spirit was locked away in Akio's sword.

"Inuyasha stand back." Taisho barked back to his son as the wind started to pick up. "If you get caught in the blast, you will die for sure." He gripped the handle of his own sward and took a sure foot stance. He watched as the wind continued to pick up and a fiery red ball formed over Akio's sword. He watched as Akio started to swing his sword in a circle, building up the power for the attack.

It didn't take Taisho a second thought to come up with the way to cause Phoenix Rage to be pulled into a stalemate. But the only problem would be the ultimate destruction of the valley for the two powerful beast locked away in the Lords' swords. The beasts were locked away for a reason and to battle against each other was an idea from the pits of hell. But he had no choice if he was going to try and stop Akio from starting a war and killing everyone around them. He raised his own sword to the sky and, like Akio, started to swing it around and around in a circular motion as a blue fire ball formed overhead. This attack was known as the Dragon Twister that was caused from the dragon of hell that was sealed away in the blade of his own sword.

With both swords of hell powering up for their most powerful attacks, the valley was overwhelmed with the strong gusts of powerful winds. Weaker trees began to bend unnaturally in the gusts and the branches of the Goshinboku bent and creaked as the wind pounded against the trunk of the thousand year old tree.

o-o-o-o

At the same time, back in the Western lands, Lady Yuki and Lady Izayoi had just finished telling everyone in the kingdom to stay indoors for a stronger, more dangerous storm was coming. The two Ladies of the Valley were standing outside in the garden as they watched the war unfold in front of them. Princess Kagome on the other hand had jumped into one of the nearby trees in the garden and was perched up on one of the branches to get a better view.

Her silver eyes frantically searched the valley in front of her, her eyes searching for Inuyasha, trying to find the prince of her heart. She watched in horror as both the Lords of the Valley started to conjure up their most powerful attacks. "Dammit!" She swore, jumping out of the tree and landing beside the two other women. "So much for negotiations." She watched as both attacks reached their power limits and both were about to attack each other.

But then something caught her eye that made her heart stop as she realized who it was. She let out a huge gasp that was sure to choke her was she saw that Inuyasha was going to get his by both attacks from their fathers.

o-o-o-o

He had to do something. Inuyasha had to do something. He cursed at his father's thinking skills for surely attacking back would not solve anything. His father wasn't helping at all by trying to attack back. That wouldn't end the war at all. It would probably just make it worse.

The gusts of winds were almost too much for him, almost sending him to his knees a couple times but he fought back. He took one step at a time, his white hair being whipped around in all directions. He had to do something; that was all that was on his mind. He had to do something in order to stop the war so he could finally be with Kagome. He had to come up with a say to stop the two attacks.

Only then did the prince realize how stupid he was. For in trying to come up with a way to stop the two attacks he had struggled with his feet to land him right in the middle of both Lord Akio and Lord Taisho. "Oh shit!" He yelled at himself but his voice was being carried away by the moaning and the crackling of the wind and electricity in the air. "I'm too late." He cursed himself as he saw that both Lords had stopped swinging their swords.

He tried to call out to both Akio and Taisho but his voice was gone, that and both fathers were completely being controlled by the attacks. For that was one price that had to be paid every time they were to use the attacks; in order to use the attacks and the beasts in the swords, they had to pay their self control, if only for those ten seconds for the use of the attack. It was no use trying to talk to Akio or Taisho for they were lost to the beasts of hell. The two fire balls, had reached their power limits and were about to explode in a huge, deadly explosion.

Inuyasha was going to get killed.

o-o-o-o

"INUYASHA!" Kagome yelled at the top of her lungs. She didn't let a second's thought slow her down as she raced into the valley. She had to do something. She had to save Inuyasha. She had to do something. She just had to.

"Kagome!" Both Lady Yuki and Lady Izayoi cried out, jumping up from the bench in which they had been sitting on. They ran over to the edge of the forest and watched, their hearts pounding in fear as they watched the young princess change back into her giant dog form and race into the battle field.

With motherly instincts coursing through them, they didn't take a moment's thought and both changed into their dog forms and raced after Kagome to try and stop her before it was too late. But they knew from seeing how far of a head start Kagome got that they weren't going to make it in time.

o-o-o-o

Both of their attacks were fully charged, their swords still raised to the heavens and ready to use their attacks. Their minds were blank; the price to pay for such an attack and the only thing they knew was the voices of the beasts, the dragon and the phoenix whispering words of destruction in their minds.

His black hair twisted around in the wind as his eyes grew a lifeless dark blue. "Phoenix Rage!" Lord Akio yelled as his red fire ball turned into the shape of a giant flaming bird. It landed on the ground in front of him, facing Taisho with its wings spread wide. At its fiery claws the grass began to flow red with rage but did not catch fire for the fire that made up the giant bird was not of this world.

Like his counterpart, the Lord of the West's eyes turned a lifeless yet raged filled red tint as he swung his sword down to point it at his enemy. "Dragon Twister!" Lord Taisho yelled as his huge blue fire ball turned into the shape of a dragon from hell which circled around him and rested in the grass for a moment, the grass around it turned a burning blue.

With a moment of pause both fire monsters from hell jumped at each other in a giant blinding light of blue and red.

Kagome could see that Inuyasha was in-between both the attacks. She turned out of her dog form and reached out to grab Inuyasha out of the way, out of the line of fire. But she knew she was too late and wrapped her arms around his waist. Thanking the gods that her mother had taught her priestess skills, she closed her eyes and conjured up a priestess shield around her and Inuyasha.

Everything went into slow motion from that moment on. Both Lord Akio and Lord Taisho were set free from their mindless price and their eyes were cleared from the anger in their hearts just at the moment that they saw their children were caught in the middles of the two blasts. "NO!" Both warrior Lords yelled at the same time, trying to stop the attack. But it was far, far too late.

The blinding light came back again and everyone shielded their eyes. The phoenix and dragon had each other in their jaws. The dragon was clenching down on the fire bird's neck while the bird's claws where dug into the dragon's belly. They battled it out for a while and just as Taisho had thought, they had caught each other in a stalemate. As soon as they appeared, the two hell monsters disappeared, killing each other with a mighty explosion. Everyone was thrown back as smoke covered the entire valley.

o-o-o-o

They watched as both fire monsters were born and attacked each other. As much as they wanted to dive into the fight and rip their children out of danger, the blinding light forced the two Ladies to stop in their tracks. After their eyes adjusted they both turned to see the two monsters fighting in the valley and both of their children caught underneath.

"Kagome and Inuyasha are right in the middle." Lady Izayoi said turning to Lady Yuki who was also panting, her tongue lolled from their run. "They'll be hit by both attacks."

Just then, an explosion covered the entire valley and the women lost vision of the battle. They watched as the blue dragon and red bird fought each other as Akio and Taisho let out their attacks. Again, they wanted to stop the fight by running into the middle of it, but another flash of light caused them to back away. The dragon and the phoenix were just too powerful and both of their powers combined had put up a barrier around them as they fought with each other until the end.

"Kagome!" Lady Yuki howled as she watched her daughter run up to Inuyasha and conjure a shield. "That's not going to be powerful enough." She said out loud but more to herself as her heart began to fall apart. Something inside her told her that both Inuyasha and her daughter weren't going to make it out of that attack alive - no matter how much she hoped.

The two monsters canceled each other out, both of them ripping each other apart in a huge fiery explosion. The two giant dogs bowed their heads and dug their claws in the ground to secure themselves from being blown back and crashing into the castle behind them. When the wind stopped, they lifted their heads and watched as the smoke cleared from the valley, desperately trying to find their husbands and children.

"Do you see them?" Izayoi asked in hope that Inuyasha and Kagome were safe.

The thick grey smoke started to fade away with the light wind as the soldiers picked themselves up from being thrown to the ground. Looking over to the middle of the battle field, they watched as both Lord and Akio and Taisho slowly got to their feet, panting and bleeding heavily. They had wounds around on their shoulders and chests for the when the monsters had killed each other, the master of the swords felt the same pain.

When the clouds of smoke cleared and both Izayoi and Yuki could see, when Akio and Taisho cleared their spinning heads and straightened their vision, when the soldiers from both sides picked themselves up - when all the clouds of smoke cleared, everyone gasped.

The horrific sight in front of them was thus; what once used to be flat, grassy land that was full of life was now nothing but the sight of a hell-fight and was a giant crater of rock and dirt with little fires here and there. No grass, no shrubs, no sabling trees. No nothing, the attack has injured the very valley itself.

And both Prince Inuyasha and Princess Kagome were nowhere to be found.


	18. Enough

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 18: Enough

o-o

As the clouds of smoke and dust cleared away in the strong breeze, both Lady Yuki and Lady Izayoi's hearts stopped beating as their eyes frantically searched the wounded valley to try and find their children.

"Kagome." Lady Yuki whined quietly as she bowed her head, her black ears drooped. "Inuyasha." Her silver eyes looked over at the white dog beside her as a tear rolled down her cheek. Kagome couldn't be dead. She and Inuyasha couldn't be dead!

Her white fur whipped around as the wind continued to pick up. Her own golden eyes were filled with tears that threatened to fall. Lady Izayoi looked over at Yuki, tears running down her own cheeks as neither of them could find any words.

o-o-o-o

Fire cracked in the background and soldiers moaned in pain. Lord Akio got up to his feet from when the explosion threw him to the ground. Silver eyes looked down at the giant crater in complete and utter shock. Kagome was dead? No, no she can't be. He turned his gaze upward and his shocked expression was turned into a snarling glare which was directed at Taisho on the other side of the crater. "You! You bastard!" Akio yelled, his voice echoed through the valley. "Because of you, Kagome is dead."

Lord Taisho had also been thrown back from the force of the explosion and when he got up to his feet, his golden eyes were wide in shock at the amount of damage done to the valley from their attacks. That was when he heard Akio's roaring voice. He looked across the crater and snarled. "Because of you, my son is gone!" Taisho yelled back, eyes flashing red with anger. "We're both to blame for this."

He gripped his hands into fists and hissed at his claws digging into his palm. His body began to shake with anger at the thought of his daughter - dead. "No!" Akio yelled, shaking his head in a furry. "I blame you!" His eyes narrowed in anger as his body began to glow an angry blue and his transformation began. With an angry howl he changed into his giant dog form, black fur whipping in the wind and his pounced at Taisho.

The white haired lord responded by also changing into his dog form, his body glowing a pinkish red. But when he had changed his defense was low and Akio's right paw stretched out and delivered a powerful smack in the face. Taisho staggered back a bit, his face forced to the right from the force of the hit and blood started to trickle down his cheek from Akio's claws. "Damn you. You fool." Taisho growled as he turned his head back to glare at Akio. He crouched down, his claws gripping the earth beneath him before jumping in the air at his enemy.

o-o-o-o

When his body began to wake all he could feel was a burning feeling. His golden eyes opened slowly but painfully as the world around him was spinning because he had hit his head hard on the ground. But when his vision cleared he looked around and saw that he was lying in a forest.

Inuyasha tried to roll over and get up but his body screamed in pain which made him stop and lay back on his back. Looking around, he saw that his red haori was ripped and torn and he was cut and gashed all over, laying in a pool of his own blood. "Ah shit." He cursed in a hoarse voice as he looked around, trying to figure out what happened or what he could do to get up.

"I-Inuyasha?" A feminine voice whispered beside him.

White dog ears perked up and his golden eyes widened as he knew whose voice that was. Inuyasha growled as he fought against his body, the screams of pain and burning that his nerves sent to his brain. He fought against his body to make it move, his arms and legs burned like fire but with some struggling he managed to roll over onto his side.

"Ka-Kagome?" He asked, seeing the young priestess lying beside him, laying a pool of her blood. Her arms and legs were all cut up with tiny gashes and her kimono was all torn. Her black ears were pinned to her head, showing that she was in pain.

Her silver eyes connected with his golden orbs as she tried to push herself up. "Ar-Are you ok?" She asked as she also fought with her own body to make it move. With some effort she managed to sit up and lean against a nearby tree for support.

Seeing Kagome able to move gave him the drive to get up. "I'll be ok." The prince answered as he tried to ignore the cries of protest from his body. After a couple tries Inuyasha managed to get up to his feet and grabbed onto a nearby tree for support for his legs almost gave way a couple times.

There was a silence between the two as they locked eyes with each other, both holding onto their trees and smiling one another. Sure, they were cut up and gashed pretty badly but it was nothing life threatening. Kagome looked Inuyasha over and her silver eyes caught the fresh scar over his eye. When she saw it, her eyes diverted away to the ground for she felt guilty, that it was her fault that he got that scar. Inuyasha smiled back but the gesture didn't reach his eyes for in his heart he knew that this whole thing was his fault. But the two continued to smile at each other. But suddenly the too-good-to-be-true silence of peace was shattered when a giant roar shook the forest.

Kagome pulled herself up to her feet but her legs gave way and she fell onto Inuyasha's chest. Looking up at her soon-to-be-mate, she sighed and buried her face in his fire-rat kimono. "We have to do something about this war. We have to stop it." She murmured for they both knew that the roar that shook the forest was none other than their father's in battle with one another.

His ears still rang from the roar as he looked down at Kagome. "Yeah, we do." The white haired prince said, wrapping his one arm around the raven hair princess's waist. "Let's go."

With that said, the two slowly started their journey back to the valley. Both of them wanted to go faster, to stop their fathers but their wounds stopped them from doing so. As they hurried through the tree to where the valley was, they could hear the growls, yelps and snarls from the battle just beyond the forest. When they finally saw the end of the forest, they broke into a run and broke through the underbrush - only to both gasp in horror. Dead bodies of soldiers from both sides lay torn and broken all over the valley. Blood stained the grass a deep crimson colour and the smell of death lingered in the air..

But amidst the broken dead soldiers were two giant dogs, biting and clawing at each other. They saw their fathers covered in blood and attacking each other, holding nothing back. Taisho's once beautiful white coat was covered in blood, matted in some places along his body with open wounds on his legs and back. Akio was panting hard and his legs looked like they were just about to give way. An open cut was right over his right eye and ran down his snout, making him have to keep that eye close. It looked like it was going to scar over once it healed; just like the scar he gave Inuyasha.

"Oh my God." Kagome gasped out as her eyes scanned the valley. Just the sight of it made her want to throw up - war was a horrible thing. She gripped onto Inuyasha's arm as he wrapped his it around her waist. But the snarls and growls from their fathers snapped her back into reality. "We have to go." She looked up at Inuyasha who gave her a nod in agreement and the two started to walk again.

As the prince and the princess ran down into the valley, their fathers jumped at each other in another bloody clash. Snarls erupted from their chests in anger as their eyes were clouded with fury. Both tore and bit at each other's throats, trying to get at the jugular and make the other bleed to death. As they fought, their giant paws gave no heed to the dead bodies they crushed.

His black fur didn't show his blood as well as Taisho's snow white fur did but Akio was covered in wounds and his fur started to matt in places. "You bastard!" The black dog growled, holding one of Taisho's bleeding paws between his jaws, his canines digging into the Western Lord's flesh. "Because of you, my daughter is dead. It's all because of your damn son!"

He could feel Akio's teeth biting into his paw and Taisho let out a snarl in pain. The white dog snapped his head down and caught Akio's snout in his jaws. The black dog gave a painful yelp and broke his hold, staggering back a few steps and shaking his head in pain.

When he got his paw back from Akio's jaws, Taisho flexed it and concluded that the bones in his paw were broken. Golden-flashed red eyes turned to the black dog that was trying to recover from his bite and snarled loudly. "You are so blind!" The Western Lord bared his fangs and crouched down, bracing himself for another attack from Kagome's father.

Black against white. East against West. The two Dog Lords continued to snarl at each other, their eyes locked, gold clashing with silver. They both crouched down and braced their broken and wounded bodies for another attack. With one final intake of breath, both Lord Akio and Lord Taisho jumped at each other, their one paw outstretched to aim for each other's throats.

Lady Izayoi and Lady Yuki watched in horror as their husbands jumped to kill each other. But - Just as both lords were going to attack each other in what would probably be that life-or-death bite, two figures jump in front of them. It was Kagome and Inuyasha! Both had transformed into their dog demon forms and were standing in front of their fathers, trying to push them back from each other.

Her silver eyes glimmered with anger from deep in her heart as she could see the dead bodies of their soldiers on the ground and saw the damage that their fathers had inflicted onto the valley itself. She was awoken with such a hidden anger. Her fur bristled in fury as she smacked her father's snout out of the way. "Father, stop this now!" She barked loudly as felt Inuyasha's haunches brush against her hind leg and she turned to look over her shoulder for a moment and showed a smile; Inuyasha was by her side and she knew that this time she wasn't going to let her father push her around.

But when she turned around to face her father, she suddenly gave out a gasp. Lord Akio was so consumed by his anger and hatred for the enemy that when Kagome smacked him in the face, he didn't even register who had hit him. With a furious snarl, he laughed a counterattack and raised his own paw, smacking his own daughter. Not even noticing that the one he was attacking was black furred like him.

Kagome was thrown to the ground by the force of her father's attack. But that smack wasn't just any, for her father was still caught in the fight to the death fury he had been in with Taisho. His sharp claws cut deep into the flesh of her scruff as he swiped downwards and cut down her neck. Her legs buckled underneath her and she felt to the ground with a painful yelp.

Lady Yuki's ears perked up as she knew right away whose yelp that was. She and Izayoi broke into a dash up to the other dog demons. Izayoi looked over at the other white furred dogs and saw that Taisho had stopped the split second he saw his son. Inuyasha had been standing, his back to Kagome as he glared at his father right in the eye. He had watched as his father jumped into the air and as he was coming down to deliver his attack, the prince saw his father's eyes register who was standing in front of him and he froze.

But when he heard that yelp - Kagome's yelp- Inuyasha whipped his head around to see Kagome laying on the ground her paws trying to get at the wound on her neck as Lord Akio towering over her. His shock was replaced by immediate anger and he jumped around to face Kagome's father, his fangs bared and a snarl erupted from his chest.

But it was Yuki who beat Inuyasha to Akio. "See what this war has done to you!" She hollered as she glared at him for a moment before turning to their wounded daughter. "You attacked your own daughter!" Tears fell from her cheeks as she nuzzled her daughter's forearm, not wanting to touch her wounded neck. Kagome didn't move. Yuki tried to paw at her shoulder but Kagome still didn't move. Yuki's heart stopped, she couldn't be dead. The black lady leaned her head down and listened and gave a sigh in relief that she heard a heartbeat - Kagome had just been knocked out from her father's attack.

His eyes suddenly cleared when he heard his daughter's yelp echo through his ears. He stopped in his steps and felt like his heart had died. His mind began to spin as he suddenly realized what he had done. He looked around at everyone around him. Izayoi had joined by her husband's side, Inuyasha was standing above Kagome with his head lowered trying to wake his girlfriend up and Yuki was in front of him as if she was blocking him from Kagome.

"I tried to tell you Akio, you've taken this too far and now look what happened to Kagome." Taisho stepped out from behind Inuyasha and stood beside his son. "Let's stop this war." He nuzzled his wife for a moment before turning back to the Eastern Lord.

"K-Kagome?" His voice came but it didn't feel like it was from him. He felt like he wasn't in his body, like he was in a cold shadowed place and watching this event unfold in front of him, unable to move his body, control his actions. All he could do was watch the consequences of what he'd done.

"You attacked Kagome; you attacked your own daughter." Inuyasha snarled from beside Izayoi. He could feel his body grow hot with anger. He just couldn't believe that Akio would actually attack his own daughter. He kept glancing down at the wounded princess, to see if she was awake yet but he continued to glare at the Eastern Lord.

"I told you to stop Akio, but you didn't listen." Taisho continued as he looked around at the wounded valley. "Look around you Akio, look at all the men that lost their lives because of our stupid fight. And now our children were caught in the middle."

Akio's muscles were now screaming in pain, his body was shaking uncontrollably as Inuyasha and Taisho continued to yell at him. It was all his fault - all of this was his fault. His soldiers were dead; his faithful men who followed him into battle were dead. Men who had families, had wives and daughters and sons. And it was all his fault. And now because of his uncontrollable anger he had attacked, almost killed his own daughter. It was all his fault.

"S-Stop." A tiny whisper came from beneath Kagome's black paw. Everyone stopped to see that the princess had woken back up. She lifted her head and looked around at everyone around her. The gashes from her father's claws ran deep down the right side of her neck. Blood flowed down her neck and trickled down the corners of her mouth but she seemed to be ok. She let out a painful swallow before getting up to her feet and facing her father but not before Izayoi stepped in front of her to protect her and Inuyasha stepped up beside her for support. "F-Father please, stop this war. There's no need to fight." She whispered out hoarsely as her throat hurt from the wound.

Her father still couldn't function from the shock that his daughter was going to be ok. But his heart was still rippled in pain of knowing this was all his doing. "K-Kagome I never..." His body gave an uncontrollable shiver. "I never wanted this to happen."

"I love Inuyasha!" Kagome shook her head slowly, trying not to move her neck too much. "I love him, I just wish you would just understand and accept it." She gave another painful swallow. "Daddy this has to stop." Her silver eyes shined from the tears that threatened to fall. "There's no reason to fight."

Silver eyes darted between Kagome and the prince of the West while Akio tried to think this through. He looked back at his daughter and watched as she tried to stay on her feet for her wound was making her lose a lot of blood. But then his eyes turned to Inuyasha and he saw, finally with clear eyes that Inuyasha's eyes weren't filled with lust of a teenaged male or anger for using his daughter to get to him with an attack. No, his eyes were full of concern for Kagome's health and love for his daughter.

His eyes then turned from their children to the Western Lord who continued to stand in front of Kagome. His silver eyes locked with Taisho's gold eyes but this time they didn't clash with anger. No, this time Akio let out a sad sigh and bowed his head, ashamed that he hadn't seen it before. "I'm sorry..." He trailed off for a moment, looking down at the ground. After a moment he raised his head again and locked his eyes with his daughter, a small smile appearing on his lips. "I'm sorry for what I have done. I have now seen the error of my ways."

Sighs were let out as everyone had been holding their breath as they waited for what Akio had to say. But when they heard what he said, their faces broke out into smiles. With that, everyone turned back into their human-like forms. While Izayoi had gone to take care of her husband, Yuki walked up to Akio and slowly placed a hand on his cheek, running her fingers over the many wounds on his face and ran her hand down his neck and rested on his chest. She couldn't help but let stray tears fall for she never want to see her husband in a wounded state like this but she couldn't help but smile at the thought that Akio knew he had done wrong and it was finally over.

While their parents were with each other, Inuyasha turned to Kagome who was lying in his arms. Because of the demon blood that coursed through her veins the wounds had already clotted and she already stopped bleeding. Kagome looked up at him, and smiled up at him. "I'm sure I look like a wreck right now." She said, running a hand over her own cheek and pulling it back to see blood on her fingers.

"You look as beautiful as ever Kagome." Inuyasha smiled down at her and lifted a hand up and ran his fingers through her long raven black hair. "We did it." He looked over at his parents and Kagome's parents and then back down at his love. "You did it Kagome, you stopped your father." He leaned down at lightly kissed her forehead. "The war is finally over and we can be together at last."

Kagome loved the feel of being in Inuyasha's arms and suddenly her wounded body didn't seem so painful. She looked up into his golden eyes and for the first time in a long time she could see that he was truly and completely happy. She looked over to her left and saw her parents, together and they seemed happy. Her father had her mother in a hug and they seemed to be saying something to each other. She then saw Inuyasha's parents were walking up to her parents. Her parents pulled away from each other and their fathers faced each other.

She could feel a headache coming on and her ears started to ring and couldn't hear what they were saying but she watched as smiles appearing on their lips and they shook each other's hand. The war was over. When the two lords pulled away, their wives walked up to them and gave their husbands a kiss. She then looked back up at Inuyasha and met his smile. She reached a hand up and traced her fingers over the fresh scar that ran over his eye. "We did it." She whispered.

Inuyasha closed his eyes, loving the feel of Kagome's fingers on his skin. When she was about to pull away he reached his hand up and kept her hand on his cheek. "We did it." He repeated and let go of her hand and placed his hand on her cheek. "I love you Kagome."

Kagome's face broke out into a smile, ignoring the pain of the wound across her face as she leaned into Inuyasha's touch. "I love you too Inuyasha. Forever and always."


	19. Celebration

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 19: Celebration

o-o

After several weeks of bed rest and everyone's wounds were tended to and healed, the lands of the East and the West held a huge banquet in celebration of the war finally ending and the two lands coming together at last. Paper lanterns lined the streets of the two kingdoms and all the villagers danced through the streets and played music. The banquet was hosted in the Kingdom of the East and for the first time in a very long time, both the East and the West lands sat down together in peace at the same table. It was a wonderful evening.

To celebrate the two who had stopped the war, Kagome and Inuyasha were seated at the very head of the table. Lord Akio and Lady Yuki setting on the other side of Kagome and Lord Taisho and Lady Izayoi setting on the other side of their son.

Food of all sorts covered the giant tables. Anything and everything you could name was there. Sounds and smells of all kinds filled the air. Lord Akio and Lord Taisho started the banquet with a toast. A toast celebrating the two lands coming together, a toast to the war ending and of course, a toast to Inuyasha and Kagome and wishes for them to have a happy life together as mates. After they all cheered and toasted, they started the banquet and started to dig into the food.

The two kingdoms were full of joy and happiness. It had been the first time the two lands had celebrated in such happiness since the prince and princess had been born, all those years ago. And now they were finally celebrating the two coming together. Everyone had a grand time and the party lasted well into the night. In fact, both Lord Akio and Lord Taisho had such a grand time that they had gotten drunk and started singing in front of everyone. What? Everyone has to loosen up just a little but once and a while. Even a lord of the lands.

After all the food and drink were gone and most of the people had left, only the royal families of the land remained. Wanting a quiet moment together, Inuyasha led Kagome out into the middle of the field to the Goshinboku. There were still signs of the war which had taken place only a month ago. The grass was still burnt and dead and the giant crater in the middle of the valley where the two armies had met was still fresh. But in time, everything would heal and the valley would be full of life once again.

They just stood there, looking up into the dark green leaves of the ancient old tree. In the background, they hear the sound of music and laughter and it brought smiles to both their lips. The war was over.

The silver haired prince turned to Kagome and smiled brightly at her. "This was where we first met. For the first time, when we were little. Remember?" Inuyasha smiled, squeezing Kagome's clawed hand a bit.

"Yeah, how could I forget." Kagome smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder.

:.: Flashback :.:

"You're it!" The voice said as he hit her in the shoulder.

The raven haired princess screamed in shock and jumped around. It was a little boy, around the same age as her. She took a moment to study the boy in front of her. He had long white hair that blew in the wind and two little white dog ears that sat on the top of his head; golden eyes that shown with innocence.

"You're it." He said again, thinking that she didn't hear him.

Kagome blinked and took a step back. "Who are you?" She questioned as she looked back between the Western lands and her own home but she kept her eyes on the boy in front of her. Her heart started to pound for her father had always told her not to talk to stangers.

"I'm Inuyasha." He said in a proud voice, as much for a bragging little seven year old. "I'm from that place over there." The white haired boy said in a youg voice. He pointed over to the feudal castle behind Kagome's shoulder. The little princess followed his point and gasped.

"You're from the Western lands?" She said.

"Yeah. Aren't you?" He asked with a tilt of the head in innocence and confusion.

"No, I'm from over there." She said, pointing to the Eastern lands. She watched the boy follow her piont and then he turned back around to her. "I'm Kagome." She smiled.

"Wanna be friends?" He asked with a big toothy grin. "So do you want to play tag?" He asked as he looked around the valley for a moment.

Kagome thought for a minute. She thought about the little boy her age in front of her. So what if he was from the Western lands? Even though her father had always told her that people from that land weren't friends, the boy in front of her seemed nice enough. She looked into his eyes and suddenly felt like she couldn't tear her gaze away from his eyes. She had never seen someone with such gold eyes before in all her seven years of living. "Sure." She smiled.

:.: End Flashback :.:

Her heart swelled with so much love and happiness as she watched around her, looking at the dark sky, the moon shining brightly with tiny stars dotted in the darkness. She then looked up at the man beside her and her breath almost left her as he looked down at her, their eyes locking and he smiled at her, his half smirk showing his sparkling teeth. "We can finally be together." Kagome whispered as she melted under his touch as Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Yes." Inuyasha agreed as he wrapped his arms more around Kagome's waist. He leaned down and buried his nose in her long black hair, breathing in her wonderful scent. She turned around in his arms, placing her hands on his chest and he looked down, meeting her eyes. "I love you." He whispered to her, leaning down and capturing in her lips in another passionate kiss, underneath the Goshinboku.

:.: Three Weeks Later :.:

Another glorious party was celebrated in the valley as Inuyasha and Kagome were officially married. Both lands; the East and the West, came together and gathered at the base of the mighty Goshinboku to watch the two lands be joined. They watched as the two lands were brought together in the prince and princess were married - just like it was all planned in the very beginning.

Inuyasha, Prince of the Western lands -well, soon to be lord- was dressed in a black and red haori, much different from his fire rat kimono. Kagome, the soon to be lady was dressed in a white, pale pink and pastel blue kimono with white lilies; both in her hands and one in her hair. Kagome's parents stood by her side in matching green kimono and haori while Inuyasha's parents stood by their son's side in matching blue outfits.

Everyone in the kingdoms watched with joy bursting in their hearts as the priest said the final words, "I now pronounce you Lord and Lady." He looked at Inuyasha and Kagome. "You may now kiss your mate."

His golden eyes shown in the bright sunlight as he looked down at his new wife. His face showed nothing but joy and so much pride that he felt like he was going to explode. Kagome looked up at him, the cherry blossom petals from the God tree swirled around her, making the view in front of his eyes the most beautiful scene his eyes had ever seen.

Kagome looked up at her new husband, mate for life, and she couldn't help but reach up and trace her fingers down the still-fresh scar over his left eye. The scar would be there forever, a constant reminder of their adventures -if they could be called that- together and how they saved both their lands.

And when the priest uttered those last words, her heart skipped a beat and raised to her tippy toes as Inuyasha bent down, his hands gently cupping her face and their lips met in a soft but passionate kiss. Everyone cheered and clapped for the new couple and the children happily threw cherry blossoms in the air to celebrate.

After their kiss, the new lord and lady turned to their people and they cheered once more. Suddenly their parents joined the two at their sides and they all walked down the aisle towards the edge of the giant crater in the middle of the valley. To one side gathered all the people from the west and to the other, all the people from the east. All gathered to celebrate the peace and bright future of their lands. The God Tree stood tall and bright, a permanent reminder of how life carries on; living through fire and war.

After the presentation of the new Lord and Lady, the group of six rejoined the celebration below. The reception was held in the Western main house and everyone continued to cheer as Inuyasha and Kagome cut their wedding cake and then had a few dances together, just the new couple on the floor while the others watched.

After a couple dances, Kagome went to sit down for a moment only to spot her best friend Sango. They had been the best of friends since they had been very young but ever since Inuyasha had come along, they hadn't seen much of each other. The new Lady of the Lands walked over to her best friend and started talking with her, catching up on all that they missed.

Sango had long brown hair with dark brown dog ears and maroon coloured eyes. Lord Akio and Sango's father were best friends, and Sango lived in the Eastern castle. "I can't believe this!" The brown eared dog demon giggled, giving her best friend a big hug. "Look at you now, Lady of the Lands."

"Oh, stop it." Kagome smiled, blushing a bit. With all this attention, she was getting kind of embarrassed. "I'm still the same old Kagome. You don't have to use those titles."

"Ok..." Sango smiled, "My Lady." She joked around.

Kagome just rolled her eyes, no sense in making a fuss over the attention for she was going to get more of it in the future. She gave her best friend a hug and then pulled back to look at her friend. "So let's talk," They sat down at the table. "What have you been up to lately?"

It was Sango's turn to turn away and blush appeared on her cheeks. "I... I met someone." She started and Kagome giggled like a little girl. "He's from the West and he's really nice."

Kagome leaned in closer, wanting every detail. Sango was just about to continue talking when all of a sudden Inuyasha and another guy came walking through the crowds

"Hey, look who I found." The white eared dog demon smiled, pointing to the other guy. "This is Miroku; we've been best friends since we were kids."

Inuyasha's best friend, Miroku was as tall as the new Lord of the Lands and he had short black hair that was pulled back into a little ponytail. He had black dog ears just like Kagome dark purple eyes.

Sango suddenly stood up and started laughing. "Kagome, umm you know how I just said I met someone? Well…" She walked up to the said dog demon and wrapped her arms around his waist. "This is my boyfriend. " She introduced.

Kagome and Inuyasha both stood there, looking at their best friends with wide eyes and mouths agape. "This was who you were talking about?" Both of them said at the same time, both pointing to Sango and Miroku.

It was quiet for a moment, the group of four burst out into laughter as they realized that it was such a small world.

After a couple minutes with their friends, all of a sudden the newlyweds' parents came up and Kagome suddenly saw that both of their mothers were acting like little girly girls. When she questioned what they were up to the only thing they could say was; "We just can't wait for the grandchildren."

She couldn't help but let out a choke as she was suddenly caught off guard by her mother and mother-in-law's excitement. "Oh no." She moaned, "The mothers are starting it." She knew she this was going to come sooner or later, it had just caught her off guard for a moment.

A light chuckle erupted from Inuyasha who was beside her. When she looked up at him, his half smirk had appeared on his lips as he looked down at her. "I don't think they would have to wait too long for little feet running around - not if you'd really want to have children so soon." His golden eyes gleamed.

Kagome's gaze suddenly snapped up at Inuyasha and saw the sparkle in his eye. "Umm... why don't we wait and talk it out first." She stuttered out as the blush deepened on her cheeks at the thought of what he was talking about - But that would come later.

o-o-o-o-o

After spending almost the whole night partying, everyone started to get tired and started to head back to the Western and Eastern kingdoms. Tomorrow they would start planning to build a bigger castle, one that would link both lands together.

After saying goodnight, Lord Taisho and Lady Izayoi started heading back to the Western castle while Lord Akio and Lady Yuki started walking to the Eastern castle.

The two families were about to go their ways when all four stopped and turned around, all eyes landing on Inuyasha and Kagome. Where should they go? They don't have their own castle yet.

"They can come with us for tonight." Lady Izayoi spoke up. "It just wouldn't be right for them to be separated again." She smiled warmly at the couple.

With that settled, Inuyasha and Kagome continued the journey with Inuyasha's parents to the Western castle. After saying goodnight, everyone settled down to go to bed.

Kagome was lying down in the giant bed, covered with a big fluffy blanket, waiting for her mate to join her in bed.

The rice paper doors slowly slid open and Kagome's ears flicked back, catching the sound. She snuggled more into the blankets and felt Inuyasha lay down beside her, wrapping his strong arms around her slender waist.

"I love you." Inuyasha whispered in her ear, tightening his grip around her waist, pulling her closer to his bare chest.

Kagome turned around in his arms to face him and placed a small kiss on his lips. "I love you too." She whispered, kissing him again. She couldn't be happier than she felt today - everything that she had ever wanted, and more, finally came true. After so long of people telling her that it wouldn't ever work, they proved everyone wrong.

Without breaking the kiss, Inuyasha rolled over until he was on top of her but his weight was balanced so that Kagome felt nothing. He leaned down again and captured her lips in another kiss, only this one was more fiery and passionate than the first two. He kept his hands on either side of Kagome to keep his weight off of Kagome while Kagome wrapped her arms around his neck, fisting his silver hair in her fingers so that he would never leave her.

And she was sure that Inuyasha wasn't going anywhere soon.


	20. End

**Love Will Find A Way**

By: Angel-With-Attitude

Chapter 20: End

o-o

The sun shown brightly in the bright blue sky as a few white puffy clouds floated in the sky. Flowers of every bright colour bloomed in the fresh green grass of the lush valley. A butterfly fluttered by without a care in a light summer breeze when all of a sudden, something captured it out of the air and closed it in darkness.

A little girl's voice was heard as she clasped her hands shut. "It tickles." She giggled, opening her hand up a bit so she could get a glimpse at the bright pink bug.

"Be careful not to squish it Kita." A lady said from behind her.

The silver haired little girl looked up and smiled brightly as she watched her mother walk slowly down the hill. "Lookie, lookie Mommy." The silver eyed girl giggled. "I found a buggie." The little girl said in the best possible way that her little five year old vocabulary could.

"Yes I see that, but don't hurt the little guy." The lady of the lands smiled and kneeled down beside her daughter. She slowly opened up her daughter's hands and showed the little girl, Kita that if you're kind to creatures, they won't run away.

Lady Kagome smiled as she showed her daughter the butterfly walking up her finger. Both sets of silver-blue eyes focused on the bug and two sets of black ears twitched backwards as they heard someone come up from behind them.

The little dog demon toddler turned and giggled when she saw how it was. She forgot about the butterfly for a moment, got up on her feet and ran over to the man and wrapped her arms around his leg.

"Daddy!" She cried, happy to see her father.

"Hey pup," The silver haired lord smiled, ruffling with Kita's hair. Golden eyes turned to his mate who stood up. "Sango said that lunch is ready."

Lady Kagome turned to her mate and smiled. Turning back to her hand, she waved it a little and watched as the pink butterfly fluttered off again, into the sky.

Dressed in a bright pink and sky blue kimono, the lady of the lands walked up to her lord who was dressed in a royal red outfit with his sword fastened at his side.

Lord Inuyasha picked up his daughter and placed her on his shoulders and looked up at the pup when she grabbed onto his dog ears. Kagome walked up to her family and wrapped her arms around her mate's waist and giving in a short kiss on the lips.

"What kind of kiss was that?" Inuyasha joked, using his free arm to wrap around his wife's waist, pulling her into a longer kiss.

"Eww... Mommy and Daddy are making out!" The little five year old Kita yelled from atop her father's shoulders.

Kagome and Inuyasha pulled away and looked up at her daughter. Both smiled and started walking up the hill, making their way to the picnic lunch.

When they got up to the top, Kagome stopped for a moment and turned around, scanning over the hill. Of course, it wasn't a hill at all; it was the very crater that was the center of the war all those years ago.

With time the rigid and dead crater had smoothed out from the weather and fresh grass covered the dark soil that was underneath.

Closing her eyes, the lady of the lands remembered that day almost as if it was yesterday. She smiled as she remembered what had happened over those months as she and Inuyasha had gotten closer and closer until...

"Mommy, you're missed Uncle Miroku get slapped again." Kita laughed out, pointing at Inuyasha best friend who now spotted a big slap mark on his cheek, fresh from his wife.

"Who many times do I have to tell you?" Sango cried out, holding her hand with the threat of another slap. "Stop grabbing my butt!"

Inuyasha let out a laugh and then dug into a rice ball, watching his wife sit down beside him with their daughter sitting beside Miroku and Sango's son, Kisho.

Kita was now five years old. She had her mother's bright silver-blue eyes and black dog ears while she had her father's winter silver long hair. Kisho was only a couple months older that Kita. He had short, spiky black hair with maroon-purple eyes and a sharp attitude like his mother.

The two happy families ate the picnic together and after talking and playing in the valley, Sango and Miroku took the two children back to the castle.

After the war was over, the two lands got right to the project and started building another castle for Inuyasha and Kagome and their family to live in. Everyone worked hard and in the end, they made the western and eastern castles smaller and a central castle in the middle of the two, overlooking the valley.

Inuyasha took Kagome's hand in his and the two started walking over to the Goshinboku. They stood there, looking up into the green leaves of the old tree, listening to the little breeze play around with the leaves.

"Just like when we first met." Inuyasha whispered, not wanting to break the peace.

Kagome looked up at him and leaned her head on his shoulder, still holding onto his hand.

"We met in this valley when we were just kids." He said, smiling up into the tree.

"And we spent most of the time here we were older and you came to the East." Kagome continued, her eyes following a blue bird, singing happily.

Suddenly, Inuyasha grabbed Kagome bridal style and jumped into the thick branches of the Goshinboku. Kagome squeaked, not expecting her mate to do that. Inuyasha sat down on his favourite branch, Kagome sitting on his lap.

The two were quiet for a while until Kagome sighed happily and she turned around in his arms, kissing him on the lips. "I love you." She smiled.

"I love you too. Always." Inuyasha kissed her again and pulled her into a tight hug.

Kagome sighed again. Everything was perfect. The way things had turned out back when the war was still going on; she now believed that love would always find a way to unite two who really loved each other.

"Love will always kind a way." Kagome whispered and she closed her eyes and fell asleep in her lover's arms.

The End


End file.
